Operation Aura
by Aoi Hyoudou
Summary: Learning that he was no longer in Unova and now in a city where it's being overrun by flesh-eating zombies, Ash must find a way to get back home while dealing with problems, like Team Rocket, the undead, Lickers, Hunters, Mr. X, Nemesis, and two groups.
1. Chapter One

**Johan07: **With my stories, **A New Rebirth Of A New Era **and **The Ones And The Chaos Ones 2012 **being pushed back for a later time, it's the perfect opportunity to start up a crossover project between Pokémon and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City. I hope you guys don't mind. It's only until I come up with fresh ideas for my other two stories.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from Pokémon or Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

**Rated: **T

**Word Count: **3,524

**Pairing (s): **To be determined

**Summary: **With Mistralton City and Ash's sixth gym battle just days away, Ash and his friends decided to take a short break from their long journey. But soon trouble begins to surface as Team Rocket appears and spoils the group's relaxation. During the heated confrontation, something unexpected happens, sending Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket into a whole new adventure, with danger lurking in every corner. Learning that he was no longer in Unova and now in a city where it's being overrun by flesh-eating zombies, Ash must find a way to get back home while dealing with problems, like Team Rocket, the undead, Lickers, Hunters, Mr. X, Nemesis, and two groups (U.S.S. and U.S. Spec Ops) who are interested in his unique ability, aura.

* * *

><p><strong>Welcome To Raccoon City <strong>

…

Ahh…yes…

It was another day, another sunshiny day to be exact.

Perfect for having lunch with your friends and Pokémon.

"Cilan, is it ready yet? I'm hungry."

The S-class Pokémon Connoisseur known as Cilan stirred his cooking pot with a soup ladle, briefly paused as he lifted his ladle to his lips and took a small sip. "Not yet, Ash, maybe a few more minutes." he told his young friend.

"Aw…" the young trainer whined as he planted his face on the dinner table with a pout.

His friend Iris who was sitting right next to the pouting boy couldn't help but heave a heavy sigh. "Ash, you're such a kid. It's only a few minutes. Can't you wait?"

Instead of receiving an answer, the future Dragon Master earned herself a loud growl from the boy's empty stomach. "Does that answer your question, Iris?" Ash looked slightly amused.

"I guess, but you need to learn how to control your stomach, Ash." the dark-tanned girl lectured.

Another growl, but this time it came from her stomach causing the young girl to blush. "You know what, never mind."

Ash chuckled.

It looked like Iris was just as hungry as he was.

Figures she would be. Not even her limitless supplies of green and red apples could contain her extreme hunger.

Another growl, and this time it was much louder than his first one.

The starving boy groaned.

'_Quit it stomach!'_

The young trainer needed to figure out what he could possibly do to pass the time. Anything would do. Anything that could help him get his mind off of food. He had his doubts as he continued to stare at Pikachu and the other Pokémon who were munching on their Pokémon food. They were making things really difficult for him.

He sighed.

It must be great to be Pokémon, always having the opportunity to eat first rather than later.

That must be the good life.

That thought came to a screeching halt when a giant fishing net, out of nowhere, snagged all the Pokémon in one great swoop into the air.

"Pikachu!"

"Axew!"

The two Pokémon trainers shot straight up from their seats. No sooner did Cilan join their side as all three looked straight up into the air. To their dismay they saw three familiar figures hovering above their heads on jetpacks, wearing big grins as they saw their surprised expressions. Accompanying the trio was some kind of a mechanical machine that looked like Jessie's Woobat.

"Team Rocket!"

"Thanks a lot for your help, twerps." Jessie beamed with sarcasm.

"Your Pokémon will make excellent presents for our boss." James added with a smirk.

"So thanks again." The Woobat machine continued to pull the trapped Pokémon up high into the air. "We couldn't have done this without your help." Meowth laughed.

"Later twerps," the trio laughed.

"I don't think so." There was no way Ash was going to stand by and let this happen, not on his watch. "Pikachu, Thunder-"

"Hold on Ash," Iris stopped her friend from making the biggest mistake of his life. "You can't order Pikachu to use Thunderbolt. What about Axew and the others?"

The young boy bit his lower lip.

Oh, that's right.

He had totally forgotten about the other Pokemon.

It was a good thing Iris was around or else he would have made a huge mistake by going through with his rash decision.

Now that Ash was fully aware of the situation, he carefully mulled over a new strategy, one that did not require Pikachu's Thunderbolt.

It didn't take the young boy that long to come up with another battle plan, one that might actually work without harming the Pokémon in the process. Well, not too much that is.

"Oshawott, use Aqua Jet towards the ground." the young trainer ordered.

His blue sea otter gave his trainer a look and he wasn't alone.

Iris too shot Ash a look.

"Ash, what are you-"

"Hold on a second, Iris." Cilan interrupted. "That might work."

The dark-tanned girl frowned. "You can't be serious."

"Of course I am." the Pokémon Connoisseur smiled. "It's Ash, after all. You should know that."

Iris heaved a heavy sigh. Indeed she did.

"Fine…"

Satisfied, the traveling former Gym leader turned his attention to Ash and said. "Go for it, Ash."

The Kanto native smiled and nodded. "Okay." Soon the young trainer aimed his attention right back to Oshawott and the others. "Do it Oshawott."

Seeing that his trainer was giving him the _look_, the sea otter had no choice but to follow his trainer's direct order.

With a slight nod, the Water-type moved into action.

Oshawott engulfed his entire being in water before diving straight down towards the ground with great force and velocity, dragging everything and every Pokémon with him.

***Boom***

A cloud of dust suddenly engulfed the area from where Team Rocket's machine landed. Once the smoke was clear, all the trapped Pokémon within the fishing net were free. All of them were safe, a little shaken up but safe nonetheless.

Seeing that their full-proof plan was once again foiled, Team Rocket decided to go with plan B this time around.

"James." Jessie turned to her partner-in-crime who immediately took the hint and nodded.

"On it Jessie." Without warning, the blue-haired male yanked out some kind of rocket cannon before aiming it directly at the young trainers and their Pokémon with a smug look on his face.

Ash and his friends gasped.

Meowth grinned. "What's the matter, twerps? Don't like our new toy?" the talking cat mocked at his former traveling companions.

"Think of it as a little gift from our boss." Jessie simply put it.

Meowth laughed.

"That's right. So be glad we're using it on you twerps."

"Do it, James!"

"Roger."

With no time to waste, James fired up the group's secret weapon, with his finger slightly on the trigger.

The rocket cannon started to build up its momentum by charging up. Sparks of electricity soon leaked out from its opening, signifying that it was almost ready. The tone indicating it had reached full capacity was James' cue to fire.

He pulled the trigger.

***BANG***

A dark energy sphere suddenly burst out from the cannon with vast force and speed. It was heading straight towards Ash and his friends with one goal: to eliminate all obstacles. Ash's group quickly figured it would be troublesome if it connected.

Thankfully, the young trainers and the Pokémon weren't going to stand by and do nothing.

The party quickly evaded the incoming attack by jumping out of the way as the sphere flew right past them, exploding as it hit the ground.

That was a close one, but there was no time to relax.

***BANG***

***BANG***

***BANG***

James quickly dished out more rounds, not giving the young heroes any chance to recover or retaliate.

Ash, Iris, and Cilan were lucky enough to dodge each one in time.

But how long could they keep this up?

***BANG***

***BANG***

***BANG***

James continued to unleash hell on his little targets who were barely managed avoid each of his incoming attacks.

Jessie and Meowth were very pleased with the outcome so far.

Everything was slowly coming together, piece by piece.

Ash and his friends had no idea that they were falling right into their enemy's hands.

From the very beginning, Team Rocket had been pulling all the strings. By separating the young trainer from Kanto, his friends, and the rest of his Pokémon with the rocket cannon the devious trio had finally succeeded in completing their task. The young boy and his electric rodent were now their only focus.

It was better this way, better than facing all three trainers and their Pokémon that's for sure.

Now that Team Rocket had successfully lured their 'favorite' twerp away from his group and cornered him into a tight spot, the trio could finally move onto the next phrase of their wondrous plan: put the young trainer in his place before capturing his Pikachu.

The moment had arrived.

***WHOOSH***

That was the sound of James' attack missing its target by a few inches.

Ash was able to evade the dark sphere by jumping out of the way.

A new problem appeared when he tripped on a rock hidden in the grass, leaving him wide open to Team Rocket's next attack.

"Gotcha!" James grinned as he took aim at his vulnerable prey. "Go Shadow Ball cannon!" He pulled the trigger.

***BANG***

"Ash!" Iris and Cilan cried out to their friend in the distance as a dark sphere was zooming in on him at a fast pace.

The young boy had no time to dodge.

The orb was quickly closing in.

But just then, a yellow blur came into Ash's view.

It was Pikachu.

"Pikachu?"

The yellow mouse had no time to waste. The electric rodent quickly fired a powerful lightning bolt at the charging sphere.

***ZAP***

Pikachu's Thunderbolt made full contact with Team Rocket's energy sphere. A power struggle ensued as the two attacks collided. Back and forth, the two attacks tried to overpower one another to see which one would get the upper hand first. At one point, it seemed like Team Rocket was going to win the fight when their Shadow Ball was overwhelming Pikachu's Thunderbolt, but Pikachu was able to fight back by adding more fuel to his attack thus resuming the stalemate.

But just then… something unexpected happened.

In the center of the Thunderbolt and the Shadow Ball, there was a light. It was getting brighter and brighter by each passing second. In no time it burst into a big flash of light, engulfing everything and everyone in its proximity.

"Ash!" Iris cried out as she tried to move forward but Cilan quickly yanked her back by the arm.

"No, Iris!" the Pokémon Connoisseur said to his friend in a stern voice. "Get back! It's too dangerous."

"But…"

There was no time to argue, no telling what would happen if they continued to stick around and watch.

Chances were they might end up like Ash and Team Rocket.

"Come on, Iris!" Cilan dragged the feisty girl with him while ordering the rest of the Pokémon except for _one_ to fall back.

As the two humans and the group of Pokémon headed to a safe distance, the blinding white light began to lose its luster. Slowly, it started to fade away. Once the light was no more, the area it engulfed returned to its normal self except for one major detail.

Ash was gone.

Not just him, Pikachu and Team Rocket had also vanished.

There was no trace of them anywhere.

It was like they had just suddenly disappeared into thin air.

Iris and Cilan couldn't believe it.

Their close friend was long gone.

To make matters worse, someone else was missing.

…

**Unknown Location**

("Ash!")

"…"

("Ash!")

"…"

("Ash!")

"…"

Pikachu heaved a deep sigh.

It looks like the yellow mouse had no choice but to go with plan B, which always worked when it comes to waking up his best friend from his little naps.

With no time to waste, Pikachu shot a weak Thunderbolt at Ash who was currently lying on the floor on his stomach.

A small scream erupted. "Ahhh!"

As soon as the shock treatment was over, Ash began to raise himself into a sitting position. Shaking off the cobwebs, the young trainer quickly turned his attention to his best bud and glared. "What was that for?" he snapped.

Pikachu rolled his eyes.

Just then, _something _clicked in the back of Ash's mind.

"Iris! Cilan!"

Quickly, the young boy scanned his surroundings, hoping to find his friends' whereabouts. Instead he came across a new development that he hadn't noticed before. "Where are we?"

("Beats me.")

The young trainer heaved a deep sigh.

It was kind of dark.

Thanks to the moonlight that was shining through the glass doors, Ash was able to observe his new surroundings with no problem at all. The building looked like some kind of mini market. Sadly though, it seemed to have seen better days. The ceiling was falling apart piece-by-piece. The floors were completely dirty and cracked with some of the areas stained by some kind of red moisture. The once stocked shelves were now cleaned out with tin cans and opened boxes all over the place.

'_What happened here?'_

More importantly, how did he end up here in the first place? The last thing he remembered was battling Team Rocket and seeing…that weird light!

The young boy let out another heavy sigh.

'_Nothing makes sense.'_

Ash shook his head.

Instead of beating around the bush he decided he should just go find information as to where he was. After that, go find clues to the whereabouts of his friends. That sounded simple enough.

A loud rumble erupted within the boy's stomach.

While he's at it, the young trainer might as well go look around for a place to eat.

"Come on, Pikachu," Ash started. "Let's go find out where we are." His yellow buddy nodded in agreement. That sounds like a good plan. "Maybe we will find Iris and Cilan." That would be nice.

"And who knows, we might even find a good place to eat while we're at it." the young trainer added with a grin.

Pikachu rolled his eyes.

("Whatever floats your boat, Ash…")

With no time to waste, the yellow mouse jumped onto his trainer's shoulder. Once Ash walked over to the front entrance, he took notice that both doors were locked and secured by a chain which was kind of suspicious. Why would someone try to lock a building from the inside this tight?

Whatever the reason, it wasn't going to stop Ash from doing his thing. "Okay Pikachu, use Iron Tail!" he ordered.

Following his trainer's order, the yellow mouse leaped off the boy's shoulder before performing Iron Tail on the chain lock. Quickly as it happened, the iron chain split into two as it dropped to the ground with a loud clattering sound. With the doors finally unlocked, Ash and Pikachu made their way out of the market without any knowledge that this would lead them into _something _that would change their lives forever.

…

Once outside, both trainer and Pokémon couldn't believe what they were seeing before their very eyes. It was a city, but just like the market from earlier, it too had seen better days. No longer was it a city, full of life and residents. It was now an empty battlefield.

Debris was all over the place, from trash to rubble. Vehicles, such as cars and buses, were either abandoned or on fire with some stacking on top of one another. Street lampposts were still functional, except for a few with broken bulbs. While some buildings, homes, and other stores seemed like they were untouched, there was no trace of life anywhere other than Ash and Pikachu.

"W-What…happened here?" the young boy asked in utter disbelief.

("Don't know…") the yellow mouse squeaked.

In order to find some answers, Ash made the decision to move forward. Slowly, the young trainer walked down the sidewalk with Pikachu looking out for any sign of strange activity within the area. After a few minutes of walking, the pair came across a green bench with an old newspaper sheet on the seat. As soon as Ash went over to the bench, he picked it up and turned it over to the front page where he and Pikachu glued their full attention on a _certain_ topic.

_**Outbreak in Raccoon City!**_

'_Raccoon City? So… that's where we are, but I've never heard of it. Is it in Unova?' _the young boy wondered. '_And what is this outbreak it's talking about?' _Ash wanted to read more about it, but couldn't. The article and its picture was too damaged to make out.

_'So much for that…' _the young trainer mentally sighed. _'But at least I know where I'm at now.' _he smiled. _'Good enough, right?'_

If only he knew… about the dangers that lurked within Raccoon City.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Finally! It's done! Sorry for the long wait. I keep getting sidetracked for some reason. Anyway, sorry if the first chapter is kind of boring due to lack of action, but I assured that the next chapter will be a lot better. As for the poll, it looks like Operation Aura will be the title of the story. Thanks, guys! And speaking of the poll, I will post up a new one, regarding on which of Ash's Unova Pokémon went after him and Pikachu. It will be interesting. With that being said, please R & R! Thank you! Until next time, peace out!**

**P.S. - Give the proofreading and editing credit to my beta-readers, **_Final Heir_ **& **_Shadowsandfire _**& **_Vandenbz_**.**

**Johan07**


	2. Chapter Two

**Johan07: **There's still time to place your votes on which of Ash's Unova Pokémon should join Ash and Pikachu in their Raccoon City adventure. The results won't be in until later on. So choose wisely!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from Pokémon or Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

**Rated: **T

**Word Count: **3,675

**Pairing (s): **To be determined

**Summary: **With Mistralton City and Ash's sixth gym battle just days away, Ash and his friends decided to take a short break from their long journey. But soon trouble begins to surface as Team Rocket appears and spoils the group's relaxation. During the heated confrontation, something unexpected happens, sending Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket into a whole new adventure, with danger lurking in every corner. Learning that he was no longer in Unova and now in a city where it's being overrun by flesh-eating zombies, Ash must find a way to get back home while dealing with problems, like Team Rocket, the undead, Lickers, Hunters, Mr. X, Nemesis, and two groups (U.S.S. and U.S. Spec Ops) who are interested in his unique ability, aura.

* * *

><p><strong>When Zombies Attack<strong>

…

"Iris!"

No answer.

"Cilan!"

Still no answer.

"Are you guys out there?"

Nothing.

"Please answer me!"

Still nothing.

Ash heaved a deep sigh.

Onward to the next neighborhood then…

While the adolescent trainer continued with his desperate search for his 'missing' friends through the eerie streets of Raccoon City, he couldn't help but get anuncomfortable feeling that he was being watched. Was it because the cold air and uncanny environment? Whatever the reason, he still felt like something or _someone _was watching him from afar.

As the raven-haired boy moved onward with his ongoing search, walking into a new block, Pikachu's ears suddenly picked up something that soundedlike a groan.

("Huh?")

The yellow mouse quickly glanced over his shoulder and saw nothing.

"What's the matter, Pikachu?" Ash took notice of his friend's strange behavior as he stopped. The young boy did a quick scan around the area and spotted nothing out of the ordinary. "Did you hear something?" he asked.

The electric rodent let out a small sigh before facing his trainer.

("It was nothing.")

Ash merely blinked and blinked.

("Nothing at all.")

The pair prepared to head out and continue their search around the area when something_ peculiar _limped out from dark shadows of a back alley. Whatever it was, it had seen better days, literally. It let out a hoarse groan before turning its undivided attention to Ash's retreating form. Once it spotted the adolescent boy and saw him as a tasty morsel, it slowly made its way over to him with a crazed look.

Trouble was brewing.

Minutes and minutes hadgone by and still no sign of a single soul. The raven-haired trainer wondered if all of this was pointless. It had been a while now since he started his search and so far he hadn't made any progress in finding anything, not even a lousy burger place. Maybe this was a sign that Ash should stop searching and accept the truth.

_'No, don't be ridiculous.' _he told himself.

There was no way in a million years Ash would ever do something _like _that. His friends meant a lot to him.

He just needed to try a little bit harder, that's all. He knewhis friends are out there. It was only a matter of time.

Until then, he could only hope for the best.

Just when the young boy was about to leave and continue with his search for Iris, Cilan, and everything else, something caught his attention at the corner of his eye.

It was a person.

A police officer to be precise and he was just a few blocks ahead.

Finally, Ash had come across somebody in this forsaken city.

About time, he was about to lose hope.

Now that the raven-haired trainer spotted another living being other than himself, he could finally relax for a bit knowing that the man can help him out with his situation.

"Um, excuse me, sir!" Ash darted over to the wobbly police officer who sluggishly came to a halt with his back still turned against the unwary boy. "But can you help me out with something?" Ash asked in a polite manner.

Slowly, the Raccoon City police officer cranked his head over his shoulder before facing the young trainer with a crazed look on his face, revealing his true self.

"What the-" The raven-haired boy quickly backed away, surprised.

Pikachu's red cheeks were sparking dangerously at the snarling man.

Something was definitely not right with this man at all. His face was paler than usual, with pieces of flesh peeling off from the skin. His eyes were freaking Ash out. Pieces of his uniform were pretty much torn and stained by a red-colored substance. The same red liquid was also dripping down from his mouth.

Ash wondered if this guy was really ill or something.

Before the adolescent boy could even ask, the crazed lunatic lunged forward and attacked. The sudden attack knocked Ash on his back with the crazy officer on top of him. "G-Get off of me!" Ash yelled as he struggled to push the man off. But it was useless. The man was just too strong for him.

After quickly recovering from his little fall, Pikachu immediately took notice that his friend was in deep trouble. ("Ash!") The yellow mouse quickly fires a Thunderbolt at the police officer, sending him crashing against the side of a nearby taxicab.

("Are you okay?") Pikachu went to his trainer's side.

"I-I think so." the young boy panted a little as he slowly got up to his feet.

His heart was still racing.

But the danger wasn't quite over just yet.

Slowly, the crazed police officer got up to his feet, causing the boy and the mouse to back away from him even further.

This was bad.

As Ash and Pikachu stood their ground and prepared to make their next move, a low growl abruptly caught their undivided attention. At first they thought it was Ash's stomach. But when it got louder and louder to the point where it was too uncanny, the trainer and the mouse both knew right away that it wasn't his stomach at all.

No, it was something else.

Immediately, the raven-haired boy and his mousy friend turned around where they saw another person. He was sluggishly approaching them with his hand extended out in front of him. The creepy civilian was in a similar state, like the Raccoon City police officer.

Both were extremely dangerous, inching closer and closer to Ash and Pikachu.

Ash gritted his teeth.

Great. Just great.

How could this possibly get any worse?

Just when lady luck wasn't on the young male's side, trouble started to show its ugly head once again, but this time with greater numbers.

Storming out from their hiding spots were a horde of Raccoon City dwellers. They were moaning dangerously at the boy and the mouse. Just like the two men, they too looked extremely crazy and hungry.

Ash broke down into a sweat.

This was really bad.

The crazy mob was closing in on both sides, barely leaving any room or space to run.

There was no escape.

There was no way out.

They were trapped.

What could they do now?

Before the raven-haired trainer could even come up with anything, the horde of horrors went on the assault. Several of them lunged forward and attacked, leaving Ash no choice but to fight back. His life was in danger.

"Quick Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" the young male ordered.

The yellow mouse did what he was told to do. He quickly fired a Thunderbolt straight on. His attack immediately connected with the city folks who were attacking in the front, zapping them until they collapsed.

While Pikachu was busy protecting the front, Ash was having a difficult time guarding the rear. The reason being he didn't have his other Pokémon with him. Therefore, there was no way for him to keep the crazy lunatics at bay. The only thing he could do was stall for time by leading them away from Pikachu and evading them at the same time.

Much to his effort, Ash still couldn't avoid the inevitable.

Slipping right through his defenses, one of the female crazies lunged forward and seized the boy by his shoulders. "G-Get off of me!" he yelled as he tried to push her away.

There was a bit of a skirmish between the two, but Ash was able to shove the diseased woman away from him.

The only problem is that he left himself wide open to another attack.

With no time to react, a crazed man took advantage of Ash's blind spot and grabbed him by the arm. With one clean swoop he bit the young trainer's forearm.

Ash let out a bloody scream.

Hearing that his friend was screaming in agony, Pikachu quickly turned around after he zapped an infected and saw that Ash's forearm was being munched on. ("Ash!")

Acting quickly, the yellow mouse used Quick Attack to tackle the flesh-eating man off his friend. Once the man was temporarily down, the raven-haired boy fell to one knee. Blood started to gush out from the open wound. ("Ash, are you okay?") Pikachu mentally kicked himself for asking that. He knew full well that his friend wasn't okay.

Ash was hurt for Arceus' sake, but he was unable to do anything else as he let loose a Thunderwave to paralyze the enemy.

Ash's breathing was much heavier than before, beads of sweat starting to roll down his young face.

Blood continued to drip with each beat of his heart.

No matter how much pressure he put into his forearm, the bleeding wouldn't stop.

It wouldn't stop at all.

'_It hurts…' _The raven-haired boy mentally cried. '_It hurts so much…' _He shut his eyes, trying to block the excruciating pain but with no luck.

Just when it seems like the pain and the bleeding were getting worse, something extraordinary happened.

A familiar blue glow enclosed itself around the boy's body.

Pikachu was pretty much speechless at what he was witnessing before him.

It was Ash's aura.

It had to be.

What other explanation was there?

But was it Ash's doing?

By the expression written on his face, it didn't seem like it. He too was quite startled by this unexpected event. And he was even more surprised when all the pain within him suddenly left his body.

Why was that?

That's when the raven-haired boy took notice of something glowing underneath his hand that pressing down on his forearm. It was a bright light. Once Ash removed his hand away from his forearm, he was quite taken aback when he saw a blue light healing his injury, restoring the missing flesh that he lost back to its original smooth, unbroken skin.

Once his forearm was completely healed, the blue glow around him suddenly vanished. The young trainer and the yellow mouse couldn't believe their eyes. Somehow, Ash's aura was able to heal serious injuries.

Both of them were amazed at Ash's recovery.

Just when Pikachu was going to ask Ash what just happened, trouble once again ruined the opportunity as the Thunderwave wore off. By mere instinct, both the boy and the mouse quickly dodged the sneak attacks from the mass with the two once again on their guard.

While Pikachu was busy zapping away and sending countless bodies all over the place, Ash tried his best to avoid physical contact with the flesh-eating fiends, taking notice that there was a small gap within the mass. This was perfect. They had been waiting for such an opportunity.

This was their chance to make their move.

It was now or never.

"Let's go, Pikachu. This is our chance!" the raven-haired boy barked.

After shocking a few more people with Thunderbolt, the yellow mouse quickly turned to his friend and nodded. The pair quickly made a mad dash towards the small opening while narrowly evading and dodging all obstacles that got in their way. Once Ash and Pikachu went through their little escape route, the duo headed off into a back alley with the frenzied horde trailing not too far behind.

The game of cat and mouse had begun.

While the adolescent boy and his mousy friend were trying desperately to outrun the crazy mob, a suspicious character on a building rooftop was watching the whole scene through a riflescope.

The shady figure didn't seem like he was interested in the whole crazy event.

No, his main focus was on Ash and Pikachu.

If he wanted to, he could easily take them both out right now, simple as that. Two shot and it would all be over. The pair would no longer be a potential threat. But after witnessing how capable Pikachu was and the unusual abilities of the young teenager, he decided to wait a little bit longer for the right moment. Any sudden actions from him could jeopardize his whereabouts and mission.

For now, the man would continue to keep a close eye on his targets while reporting in to his team leader and comrades about the situation.

"Spectre to Lupo, come in!"

…

After spending minutes and minutes of running around from block to block, Ash and Pikachu were able to give the Raccoon City horrors the slip by ducking behind a set of trash cans in a different alley. At first, the pair had doubts about their little strategy, but after remaining still for such a long time and waiting for the rest of the flesh eaters to stumble on by, their minds relaxed. They were relieved that their plan had actually worked.

Now that the raven-haired boy and his yellow friend were out of danger for the time being, they could finally take a breather.

("That was a close call.") the yellow mouse squeaked as he wiped a trail of sweat off his forehead.

"You can say that again." the adolescent trainer sighed in relief.

There was a brief pause.

Theduo wasn't planning on moving from their hiding spot anytime soon until the coast was clear. This was the perfectopportunity for them to have a little chat. After what went down, this was the time to do it.

("Hey, Ash,") Ash turned his attention to Pikachu. ("Do you know what's going on here?") the yellow mouse asked.

The young male heaved a deep sigh.

"If only I knew, Pikachu, if only I knew…" he muttered.

Instead of pressing on the subject, Pikachu immediately moved onto the next one. ("Okay then, what about when you got hurt.")

Ash merely blinked.

"What about it?"

The yellow mouse heaved a deep sigh.

("When you were bleeding,") Pikachu started. ("You were glowing. Don't you remember, Ash?") Pikachu frowned deeply at his friend.

The raven-haired boy took a moment to ponder over his thoughts.

He tapped his cheek once, twice, then three more times before he finally realized what his friend was talking about.

'_Oh, that's right!' _Ash told himself.

How stupid could he be?

Not too long ago, something _strange _did happen to him. When he was bleeding uncontrollably, a familiar force took hold of him and engulfed him in a warm light to heal his injury. Thanks to that unnatural event, his life was spared, for the time being.

Ash stared at his 'once' injured forearm.

The adolescent trainer wondered if his aura had something to do with this.

The possibilities were fifty-fifty.

If it did have something to do with what happened earlier, then why?

Why now.

Why here.

Why in Raccoon City, of all places?

It didn't make any sense.

Even if it didn't, Ash still appreciated his aura for what it did for him.

But as much as he did, he still couldn't help but wonder.

If only…

If only…

'_If only I knew how to use my aura,' _The raven-haired boy closed his eyes and slipped into a deep thought. '_Then maybe… just maybe it could give us some kind of edge over what it is that we are dealing with in Raccoon City.' _That was a nice thought.

Ash reopened his eyes and stared at his opened palm for a few seconds before a deep frown tugged against the corner of his lips. '_…But how can I do it when I don't have any special training like Riley or any special gloves like Sir Aaron?' _he wondered.

_'Is there another way?' _the boy wondered again.

Before Ash could even ponder over that thought his body, mind, and soul suddenly froze up as his unique ability with aura went off again. This time it was his aura senses. They were picking up _something _that was giving off a faint aura signal. Whatever it was, it felt like it was close by, too close for that matter.

Slowly, the young male cranked his head to the right where he got the biggest surprise. Just near him and resting against the alley wall was a motionless human body. The boy's heart skipped a beat.

'_Where did that come from?'_

To Ash's relief, the suspicious body didn't seem like it posed much of a potential threat. Not now, that is. A great deal of relief put the young trainer at ease.

That is until… the creepy fingers of the 'once' human started to twitch before moving around a little.

Waking up from his rebirth, the new infected rotated his head to his foolish target and growled, drool dripping down from his mouth.

Ash backed away a little. He wasn't expecting this. First, the man was dead and now he's alive? This was some serious business.

What the heck was going on here?

Getting up to his feet, the infected man sluggishly approached his two meal tickets with mindless hunger all over his face.

Unfortunately, he didn't get too far with his plan.

Following Ash's orders Pikachu immediately fired a Thunderbolt at the approaching fiend, quickly stopping him in his tracks.

The diseased man let out a hoarse groan before dropping to the ground with a loud thud.

Once the infected man was taken care of Ash and Pikachu had to deal with another problem. The trouble being that it was making its way over to them. The pair had a strong feeling that the sounds from the fallen infected must have attracted the others who were still lurking around.

This was bad.

Through an unspoken agreement they decided to take the opportunity to make a run for it and find a new place to hide before it was too late.

The young trainer and his yellow friend quickly took their leave andran through the dark alley, hoping they wouldn't come across any more danger.

If only they knew… the worst was yet to come.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I wonder who was the other person/figure who watching Ash and Pikachu. Do you guys know? Anyway, sorry if this chapter took forever. Blame daylight saving for that. As for Ash's aura, don't worry. It will play little roles in each chapter until it becomes a major factor in the story. For now, just enjoy. And about the pairing, I still don't know. Maybe you guys can help me out here. Please R & R! Thank you! Until then, peace out!**

**P.S. - Give the proofreading and editing credit to my beta-readers, **_Shadowsandfire_ **& **_Vandenbz_**.**

**Johan07**


	3. Chapter Three

**Johan07: **I posted a new poll. Hope you guys take the time to check it out. Don't worry about the last poll. You will find out soon enough who won that poll.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from Pokémon or Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

**Rated: **T

**Word Count: **4,295

**Pairing (s): **To be determined

**Summary: **With Mistralton City and Ash's sixth gym battle just days away, Ash and his friends decided to take a short break from their long journey. But soon trouble begins to surface as Team Rocket appears and spoils the group's relaxation. During the heated confrontation, something unexpected happens, sending Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket into a whole new adventure, with danger lurking in every corner. Learning that he was no longer in Unova and now in a city where it's being overrun by flesh-eating zombies, Ash must find a way to get back home while dealing with problems, like Team Rocket, the undead, Lickers, Hunters, Mr. X, Nemesis, and two groups (U.S.S. and U.S. Spec Ops) who are interested in his unique ability, aura.

* * *

><p><strong>From Bad To Worse<strong>

…

They were hiding.

It was simple as that.

Ash and Pikachu were both hiding behind a broken down police car after finally eluding the horde of horrors.

("D-Did we, did we lose them?") the yellow mouse asked while still catching his breath.

"I-I don't know…" the young boy panted a little. "Maybe… Let me check." he suggested.

Slowly, Ash poked his head around the corner of the car. When he did, he immediately jerked back. "Shoot!" His heart skipped a beat.

Not too far from where they were, there were several infected lurking around in the area.

Great. Just great.

Just when the duo thought they were in a safe zone, something like this had to happen.

Well, at least the pair didn't have to deal with another horde like last time.

("What should we do, Ash?") Pikachu asked in a quiet tone.

"Hmm…" Ash pondered over that thought.

What should they do, indeed…

The raven-haired boy slowly moved himself into an Indian-style sitting position and went into thinking mode as he crossed his arms. He pondered and puzzled but no thoughts or ideas were coming to him. He wondered if it was only a matter of time before their little hiding spot was exposed and no longer safe.

It was becoming a strong possibility.

That is until… the young trainer quickly remembered something that could possibly help them get out of this mess. If he remembered correctly, when he did a quick check around the corner of the police car he spotted a building of some sort a few blocks ahead. It looked like a parking garage. Maybe the pair could use it as a new hiding spot and camp there until they could figure out a way to get around the city without getting noticed by the flesh-eaters.

Yeah, that could work.

The only problem to that is how would they pull it off and get over there? The infected were close by, too close to reckless ideas.

Pikachu looked over to Ash, knowing that the raven-haired boy would find a way.

He always did.

"Come on, Pikachu," Ash started. "Follow me and stay low."

The yellow mouse merely blinked.

The electric rodent didn't have a single clue what his friend was up to, but it seemed like Ash had some kind of plan up his sleeve. Normally, that would be a good thing. After taking a closer look at the expression that was written on Ash's face, Pikachu had a gut feeling that he come up with the plan at the last second.

No surprise there.

Like always, Ash was being Ash.

There was no telling what he was going to do next.

With a quick nod, the yellow mouse followed his friend's lead.

Quietly, Ash and Pikachu hurried over to the next car which was several feet away from their current position while trying their best to stay out of sight as much as possible. They didn't want any of the infected to know their location. The duo proceeded with their little strategy. From car to car, they snuck around the dangers and entered the new block and then the one after that.

Ash's plan was a big success but not an easy one. There were a few times where things got a little too close. At one point, Ash almost blew his cover. The raven-haired boy had waited for the best moment to get past an infected feasting on a nearby body. He tripped over his own two feet and fell while moving over to another car, releasing a grunt on hitting the ground. Thankfully, he was able to recover quickly and duck behind a random car before the rotting man saw him.

Now a new challenge had presented itself.

Just up ahead and straight across from where the young trainer and his yellow friend crouched were a couple of infected folks blocking the pair's only entrance to the parking garage. This was bad. And to make matters worse, a few more undead started to show up on the scene.

Great, how were they going to get by now with all of those creeps in their way?

If they tried to attack head on, it would surely draw attention to them, definitely a bad result all things considered. They didn't want to repeat what happened last time, especially given Ash's wound that was still fresh in their memories. It'd be best to carefully rethink the situation and play it safe. The pair there had to be another way around this.

But what they could they do?

Ash took a brief pause. He pondered and pondered with his arms crossed until _something _caught his attention. It was a can, an empty tin can to be precise. It was resting on the pavement near the front wheel of the car they were hiding behind. The moment the young male laid his eyes on it, an idea abruptly popped into his head.

Slowly, the raven-haired boy reached out and grabbed the can. He stared at it momentarily while gathering up his final thoughts. Once he was set, he gave himself a little nod before making his move.

'_Alright, I hope this works.' _he told himself.

It was now or never.

Using the car as some kind of leverage, Ash threw the empty can over his head with all his might, hoping his toss was his best. The canister flew a good distance before bouncing and rolling a good couple of blocks away from the pair's location. The loud clattering sound immediately caught the attention of all infected who were in the area. They groaned and moaned at the loud disturbance.

Peeking around the corner of the car, the young male couldn't believe what he was witnessing. His plan was actually working. One by one, the infected left the area and headed for the spot where the canister landed at.

Perfect, this was the great opportunity Ash and Pikachu were hoping for. Now that the band of flesh eaters were gone they needed to make their move immediately. "Now's our chance, Pikachu, let's go!" Ash said to his best friend who quickly nodded at him.

With no time to waste, the boy and the mouse were off. They quickly rushed over to the steel door of the parking garage. It was shut but thankfully not locked. No surprise there, but there was _something _written on the door, something that made Ash and Pikachu feel a bit uneasy about going inside the building now. The word, 'Help' was written in red letters, most likely in blood. One would've thought the trainer and the Pokémon would turn away and run from this, but no… they didn't. They were going to stick with their original plan no matter what.

No bad vibe was going to slow them down.

Knowing that time was running out and not on their side, the duo quickly moved into action. There was no telling when their hostile 'friends' would come back.

("Okay, Ash, remember to lift with your legs, not your back.") the yellow mouse squeaked.

Ash merely blinked.

"What?"

Pikachu rolled his eyes at his baffled friend.

("Just do it, Ash.") he squeaked again, annoyed.

The young male heaved a deep sigh.

"Fine…"

Following the advice that was given to him, Ash starts to lift the door with his legs. It was no surprise that Ash was struggling a bit. He was no Don George. But little by little, he was making progress. Soon the garage door was halfway open, more than enough room for Pikachu to go in first.

"O-Okay… Pikachu," The adolescent trainer was keeping the door steady for his little friend. "You go in first. I'll follow right behind afterwards." he told his little buddy.

With a quick nod, the electric rodent ran inside.

Now that his yellow friend went through, it was Ash's turn to do the same. With all his strength, Ash lifted and pushed the steel door until there was a big opening. Acting quickly, the raven-haired male let go and with quick instinct dived inside the parking garage.

The door immediately shut right behind him with a loud slam.

…

Once inside, the pair discovered that the whole parking garage was completely deserted and a bit eerie. There was no trace of any cars in the area, not a single one. Nor was there any sign of… wait! There was something up ahead, something that was resting against the wall. It looked like a body, a human body to be precise and it was bleeding.

Without thinking, Ash ran over to the bloody figure with Pikachu trailing not too far behind him. The boy was extremely worried. If that person was hurt, he needed to help them in any way he could. He wasn't about to abandon someone in their time of need.

As soon as the duo made their way over to the motionless figure, things weren't pretty, not pretty at all. They were staring down at a dead man's corpse. And judging by the uniform and the heavy gear that he was wearing with the initials R.P.D. on his shirt, he used to be a police officer of Raccoon City.

This was a shame.

Putting some safe distance between him and the bloody corpse, Ash dropped to one knee and studied the features of the once active police officer. It was no surprise that the man's face was really pale and stained with blood, his eyes were completely shut. His uniform was also in rough shape. There were severe bite marks on his neck, arms, and left shoulder. Also there were several gashes across the man's chest with some on his arms as well. Judging by how deep and fresh they were, _something _not too long ago made these, something with claws.

Who or what could have done this?

Something caught his attention at the corner of his eyes. Resting within the dead man's open hand was a silver object. It looked like a handgun.

Ash swallowed a little, remembering the familiar sight of such a weapon.

As a result of their assistance in stopping one of Team Rocket's crimes the Officer Jenny in one of the cities back in Kanto had offered to show the group around the police station. She even offered to let them try out a weapon at the firing range. Brock and Misty declined but Ash decided to give it a go. It was obvious to Jenny that Ash was new to using a gun but was personally impressed at how he quickly adjusted to holding something that heavy, even slowly refining his grip, aim, and handling of the recoil as he fired. Ash was surprised that she even made an addition to his personal ID giving her support should he wish to continue training. She even joked about him becoming a police officer rather than a Pokémon Master.

Over time he chose to practice whenever he had the chance. His traveling companions throughout his journey in the various regions would be curious about why he would frequent the police station in cities and towns but didn't want to pry into his decisions. One major benefit was Ash learning how to anticipate the attacks of groups such as Team Rocket when they used weapons like those various bazookas they seemed so fond of. Seeing where they were aiming gave him an extra edge in dodging everything from explosive rounds to nets. At least it made harder for Team Rocket to capture him on occasion.

Those were interesting times, he had never anticipated using his skills in wielding a gun against another living thing.

The raven-haired teenager stared at the firearm, then at the bloody corpse, then at the gun again before making a decision. Cautiously, Ash reaches out for the weapon while keeping his eyes on the motionless figure at all times. He didn't want to repeat what happened last time when he let his guard down.

This time he was ready for anything.

Once Ash took a hold of the handgun and carefully removed it from the dead officer's grip, he let out a sigh of relief before studying his newfound weapon with interest.

Pikachu stared and stared at his friend for the longest time, wondering what was going through that boy's thick skull as he examined the gun. He continued to stare at him until… something distracted him. It was a noise, a loud noise to be precise and it sounded like a growl of some sort.

The first thing that popped into Pikachu's mind was Ash's empty stomach.

("Ash…") The adolescent trainer abruptly stopped what he was doing, checking the pockets of the fallen officer, and stared down at his little friend who for some reason looked really annoyed with him. ("Can you please control your stomach? It's getting a little annoying.") the yellow mouse groaned.

The dumbfounded boy merely blinked.

"What are you talking about, Pikachu?" He looked awfully confused. "T-That wasn't me."

Now it was the electric rodent's turn to blink.

("Really?")

Before Ash could even say a word or two, his friend's ears and his aura senses were abruptly detecting something, something that was lurking nearby. Immediately, the pair stood their ground with the young teenager quickly tucking the handgun into his belt after checking that the safety was on. Ammunition clips from the dead body were shoved in his pockets. They scanned the area but saw nothing out of the ordinary. That was weird. They could've sworn they sensed something.

Just when they thought they were imagining things, loud noises above their heads caught their attention. The duo quickly looked up. They didn't know what was making those thumping and scraping noises, but it seems like they were coming from the air vents. They were getting louder and louder.

Ash and Pikachu were getting a bad feeling about this.

Soon things took a turn for the worst when loud screeching sounds were coming out from the vents, giving the duo a strong possibility that something was coming. Suddenly, one of the air vent covers started to rattle violently before dropping to the ground with a loud slam. Crawling out from the opening was some kind of strange creature.

It was unlike anything the young boy and the little mouse had ever encountered before. The creature's body structure was covered in crimson muscle without any skin. Its head was that of an exposed brain with its eyes nowhere to be seen. The blind creature also possessed four strong legs with razor sharp talons, five on each limb. An incredibly long tongue was sticking out from its drooling mouth as it was screeching venomously at them.

This was bad, real bad.

Was this creature some kind of a new Pokémon?

Ash wanted to know.

Quickly, the anxious trainer pulled out his handy dandy Pokédex from his pants' pocket and aimed it directly at the creature. Before the young male could even get any data on it, the newfound creature lashed its long tongue out and whacked the boy's device out of his grip. The Pokédex falls to the ground and broke with small sparks of electricity leaking out from the cracked screen.

Ash's jaw dropped.

Pikachu's jaw dropped.

Well, that was unexpected.

What now?

Before Ash could even recover from his state of shock, the tongue-lashing fiend was at it again. This time it went after the adolescent boy with evil intentions on its mind. Without warning, its disgusting tongue abruptly wrapped itself around its little target's neck with no sign of letting go.

"Grk!" Ash choked out.

He was in deep trouble.

The young teenager tried desperately to remove the creature's tongue around his neck, but it was completely useless. No matter how hard he tried it wouldn't release its vice grip around his throat. It was cutting off his oxygen. He needed to do something and fast.

"P-Pikachu, h-help...!"

That was the yellow mouse's cue to jump in and help his friend. But before Pikachu could even lift a finger to help Ash, he suddenly found himself in the same predicament just like his dear friend. Out of nowhere another slimy tongue wrapped itself around Pikachu's little frame from his blind spot.

The little rodent gasped.

Slowly, the raven-haired boy twisted his head around to see another one of those creatures on the wall restraining his yellow buddy with its tongue.

Where in the heck did it come from?

This was not good, not good at all.

Just when things were looking bad, more trouble started to happen and they were getting worse by the second. The tongue around Ash's neck was pulling him towards the creature's waiting claws. He tried to fight against it but it quickly became apparent to him what the inevitable result would be.

This was bad.

No matter how much the duo struggled, there was no escape from the creatures' clutches. Their hold on them was just too great.

It was futile.

That is until… Ash came up with an alternative solution to their little problem.

"P-Pikachu… I, I need you to attack with everything you've got!" he ordered.

Pikachu hesitated.

If he did that, wouldn't that mean…

"D-Don't worry about me, buddy, I'll be fine." The yellow mouse didn't look too convinced by his friend's assuring words. "Just do it!" Pikachu still refuses to carry out his friend's crazy wishes. "Now!" the boy barked.

The electric rodent chewed his bottom lip.

It looks like there's no other choice. If his best friend was that determined to go along with his crazy plan with no care in the world about his own well-being, then so be it. There was no point in arguing with him.

With a quick nod, Pikachu made his move. He quickly as he could within his tiny body before letting out a big Thunderbolt at everything and everyone who was near him. No one was safe.

Ash screamed his lungs out.

The blind monsters screeched and screeched.

Once it was all set and done, the bloody critters released their hold on the boy and the mouse as their tongues slumped to the ground. Quickly, the yellow mouse rushed over to his friend's side to see if he was okay. He was currently on one knee, breathing heavily. The effects of the Thunderbolt had certainly taken its toll on him. Beads of sweat were running down his forehead.

("Ash, are you okay?") Pikachu asked with a worried expression on his face.

Chuckling, the raven-haired boy turned his head to his yellow buddy and gave him a weak smile. "I'm fine, Pikachu," he assured. "Don't worry." He was fine. There was no major damage to his body. Over the years of being zapped by Pikachu's electric attacks on multiple occasions, the pain was no big deal to him. Well, a little bit, but that's all. The blind creatures on the other hand were still stunned by the Thunderbolt, but for how long?

This was Ash and Pikachu's one and only chance to take the advantage now while they still can.

Looking around, the young teenager quickly spots something just up ahead from where they were. It was a door, a big red door to be precise and it was unlocked. Perfect. As much as he didn't know where it would lead, he didn't care. It was their way out. There was no time to second guess.

It was now or never.

"Come on, Pikachu," Ash started as he shot straight up to his feet. "Let's go."

The yellow mouse nodded.

With no time to waste, the pair ran past the paralyzed creatures and headed for the exit. But before they were home free, one of the creatures suddenly recovered from the aftershock. Sensing that its prey was escaping, the blind abnormal quickly shot its long tongue at Ash, nearly stabbing him in the arm with the force behind it. It only managed to slice through his shirt sleeve thanks to Ash reacting to the noise and stumbling to one side.

Sensing that his friend was in deep trouble, Pikachu came to a quick stop. He immediately turned around and saw what was happening. The yellow mouse quickly fired a Thunderbolt at his target.

***ZAP***

The blind creature let out a horrifying screech.

Pikachu's Thunderbolt was doing its job. It zapped and zapped before sending the crying monster flying to the other side of the parking garage.

"Thanks, Pikachu." the raven-haired boy quickly thanked his Pokémon for his assistance as he steadied himself, carefully examining his newly damaged sleeve.

There was no time for chitchat.

Trouble was approaching.

The duo made a run for it. They ran until they reached the red door and quickly stepped through it. Once the pair went through, not only did they shut the door, but they also shut away all their little problems, for the time being anyway.

…

Outside, Ash and Pikachu were catching their breaths. Ash was using the sealed door as a little support to balance himself while Pikachu was lying flat on his belly with beads of sweat dripping down from his forehead. Both were extremely exhausted. Thankfully, they had this moment to relax a bit before moving forward. Ash had never been more grateful for traveling all over the Pokémon regions on foot.

While the pair were busy recuperating from all their little running and from all their intense moments, they took notice that they were in a back alley of some sort. It was quiet, too quiet. They couldn't help but wonder if there would be any more surprises waiting for them around the corner.

Once the duo regained some of their strength, Ash with Pikachu perched on his shoulder walked forward. But before they could even make any progress, something unexpected happened.

All of a sudden, the adolescent boy heard what sounded like a gun being cocked just behind his back. Before he could even turn his head around to see what it was, a new voice cut him off.

"Don't take another step."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry if this chapter was a lot shorter from the other ones. I ran out of ideas for it. Anyway, guess who that was at the end of the chapter. You'll be surprised once you find out in the next chapter. Please R & R! Thank you! Until then, peace out!**

**P.S. - Give the proofreading and editing credit to my beta-reader, **_Vandenbz_**.**

**Johan07**


	4. Chapter Four

**Johan07: **The poll for the pairing is still up. There's still time to cast your votes. If you can't log in or don't have an active account, then leave an anonymous review in the review box. Also, if you guys were wondering about Ash and his past history with a firearm, then go back and read chapter 3. There's s few parts where they explains it. In the series, not once did they show what Ash does on his free time. There's a good possibility that he might be doing something other than his regular routine. This thought came from my beta-reader Vandenbz. Oh, and one more thing. If you guys were wondering, Ash is 16, not 10 or 13 in this story. Just to let you know.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from Pokémon or Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

**Rated: **T

**Word Count: **4,709

**Pairing (s): **To be determined

**Summary: **With Mistralton City and Ash's sixth gym battle just days away, Ash and his friends decided to take a short break from their long journey. But soon trouble begins to surface as Team Rocket appears and spoils the group's relaxation. During the heated confrontation, something unexpected happens, sending Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket into a whole new adventure, with danger lurking in every corner. Learning that he was no longer in Unova and now in a city where it's being overrun by flesh-eating zombies, Ash must find a way to get back home while dealing with problems, like Team Rocket, the undead, Lickers, Hunters, Mr. X, Nemesis, and two groups (U.S.S. and U.S. Spec Ops) who are interested in his unique ability, aura.

* * *

><p><strong>Dancing With Umbrellas<strong>

…

A cold chill.

The raven-haired boy felt a cold chill ran down his spine. Was it from the atmosphere? No. It seemed more like a feeling than anything else.

It was fear.

Small droplets of sweat were dripping down his face. His throat was a little dry. He was nervous and… a bit scared, being held at gunpoint by an unknown foe.

Slowly, Ash looked over his shoulder and spotted a mysterious hooded figure in black pointing some sort of rifle at him. Just by looking and studying his unknown assailant's features, there was no doubt that this person was a man. His uniform seemed to be highly customized with various gear but the strange thing about the older male was that he was wearing some kind of special gas mask over his face. The most noticeable part of the mask was those blue eye lenses.

"I'm not going to say this again kid." The gun-wielding man cocked his weapon for the second time. "Don't take another step!" he repeated himself, but this time in a much darker tone.

Ash gritted his teeth.

How did this happen? How did he sneak behind them without them knowing about it? Did he use some kind of sneaky tactic? So many questions were going through Ash's mind right now.

"Face forward." The young trainer didn't budge. Pikachu's cheeks were sparking dangerously at the man. "Now!" the dark hooded male barked with his finger on the trigger.

Ash clenched his fists. It looks like he has no other choice but to follow the man's orders, for now at least. Any sudden movement on his part would cost him dearly.

The raven-haired boy quickly turned his head and looked forward.

"You too, you freak of nature!"

Pikachu gave the man a hard glare. Who was he calling a freak of nature? Was he looking for a fight? If so, the yellow mouse would gladly give him one. A Thunderbolt could easily shut him up. However, one look from Ash told him that he shouldn't do anything reckless until the time was right.

For the sake of his friend, Pikachu had no choice but to stand down and behave.

"Good, now hands up where I can see them, both of you!" the masked man barked his second order with his finger still on the trigger. "And don't try anything stupid either." he added with his weapon still on the pair.

The boy and the mouse again did what the man told them to do. They lifted their hands up and remained still. Once he had a strong feeling that he had everything under his control, the masked scoundrel took a step forward.

A smirk suddenly tugged against the corner of Ash's lips. "Now Pikachu!" he shouted.

Without warning, Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and latched himself onto the evil gunman's face. "What the-" The man stumbled backwards a few steps. "Get off!" He tried to shake Pikachu off, but it was completely useless. The yellow mouse was hanging onto his face for dear life.

Ash was waiting for this opportunity. This was his chance to run while he still can.

"Come on Pikachu!" the adolescent male called.

With a quick nod, the electric rodent used the older male's face as some kind of springboard to leap off. The masked man grunted before staggering backwards a few more steps. Once he quickly recovered, he took notice that his targets were escaping from his grasp.

"Shit!" the angry man cursed.

How the heck did he screw this up?

The man in black quickly went after the boy and the mouse.

Just when the duo was about to exit the alley, five figures in black abruptly cut them off around the corners and stood before them with weapons in hand. Immediately, Ash and Pikachu stopped in their tracks and backed away a little, only to found themselves cornered from both sides.

Great. Just great.

The pair didn't know who these five individuals were, but judging by their dark appearance and similar gear, not to mention those odd masks there was no doubt that they were working together with the hooded man.

This was bad.

"Where do you think you're going, kid?" the one with the shotgun asked.

Ash and Pikachu took a step back.

"You're not going anywhere." a dirty blonde woman with a gas mask stated.

Ash and Pikachu took another step back.

"We got a few questions we would like to ask you, boy," another female stated. "So you had better start talking now before things get really nasty for you." she threatened with a venomous tone. Ash figured that she must be the leader due to the authority in her voice.

The duo glared at the woman who simply glared right back at them through her clear blue mask.

Tension was in the air.

"Now then," Soon the young trainer and the yellow mouse snapped their undivided attention over to the third and final female of the group who turns out to be an Asian woman with a mask covering only her nose and mouth. "What's that _thing _next to you?" she asked with interest in her tone.

Pikachu was greatly offended when the black-haired woman called him a 'thing'. He was not a thing. He was a Pokémon, for Arceus' sake. Can't she see that?

"From what Spectre has seen and told us, it can use electricity as its own power and fight with it." By the sound of her tone, she sounded like she was intrigued. "Is it a new type of a B.O.W.? If so, how are _you_ able to control it?" the female Asian asked waiting eagerly for the boy's response.

Ash blinked.

Pikachu blinked.

"B… O… W…?" The raven-haired boy was quite baffled. He didn't know what that was. This was his first time hearing such a word. "What's-"

"We're asking the questions here!" the hooded man abruptly cut the young teenager off. "Now answer her!" he barked with authority as he pointed his gun threateningly at the back of the boy's head.

It seemed like Ash had no choice but to cooperate. He was in no position to ask questions.

"I don't know what a B.O.W. is," he started. "But Pikachu is NOT a B.O.W., he's a Pokémon and my best friend." he strongly stated with a hard glare.

There was a brief moment of awkward silence.

No one spoke a single word.

That is… until someone broke the awkward silence.

"What the hell is a Pokémon?" the masked man with the shotgun asked. The duo stared at him in bewilderment as if he grew a second head or something. "And what the hell is a Pikachu?"

Ash couldn't believe what he was hearing.

'_They don't know about Pokémon?' _He was in utter disbelief. _'Who are these guys?' _It wasn't every day that the young teenager came across a group of suspicious people who didn't know a single thing about Pokémon. What was the deal here?

Now that Ash thought about it, he did find the whole situation completely strange if not bizarre. Ever since his arrival at Raccoon City, not once had he seen a Pokémon. The only thing he had encountered thus far in the city was nothing but trouble. Why was that?

"Does it really matter, Beltway?" The raven-haired trainer quickly snapped back to reality when he heard the hooded man scolded at his teammate. "That thing is nothing more than a giant yellow fuzz ball."

Pikachu shot the man a glare.

"Hey, it's not my fault if I'm damn-"

"Vector, Beltway, enough!" the female leader intervened with a loud shout. "This isn't the time for your shit. Stay focused!" The two men did what they were told to do, keeping their mouths shut and focusing on the group's objective.

With Vector and Beltway no longer an issue, the brown-haired woman turned her attention right back to Ash. "Now then, what's this I hear about you and the ability to regenerate…" Once she said that all eyes were glued on the clueless boy.

Ash merely blinked.

"Regenerate?" He had no clue what she was talking about. "What are you-"

"Don't play dumb, kid." Soon Ash turned his attention over to a masked man who no doubt was the one that informed the group about him and his uncanny ability to heal. That person was none other than Spectre. "I saw everything..." the group's marksman said in a creepy tone.

The raven-haired male gave the creepy man a look.

"W-What do you mean, everything?"

"It's useless to hide it." the Asian woman by the name of Four Eyes interrupted. The boy turned to her. "Spectre already informed us all about your little incident." The young male didn't quite follow. "When you first arrived in the city, you encountered a group of infected, one of which that bit you. And at that moment, you did something that caught his attention." She took a brief pause to see if Ash was listening. He was and soon the realization came to him. "Judging by your face, it seems like you remember."

'_W-Wait… Is she,' _Ash glances down at his once injured forearm. _'Is she talking about my aura?' _He kept his gaze on his forearm a little bit longer. _'And how it helped me when I got hurt?' _

While Ash was lost in deep thought, Four Eyes kept her eyes on the ball, wondering if Spectre's words were true about the boy. _'Does this boy really possess the ability to heal from an infection of the T-virus?' _she pondered. _'It seems a bit skeptical…' _But after studying the boy a little bit closer, the female scientist can't help but get a nagging feeling about him. _'But this boy is quite different from the rest. I can't put my finger on it… If he can use such of an ability, there's no doubt he'll a big problem in the long run unless…' _A thought abruptly came to her. _'We capture him and bring him back to Command. I'm sure they will pay double, if not triple for a unique test subject who is immune to the infection and has other uncanny abilities to back it up.'_

That was a nice thought.

Too bad some of her teammates didn't share the same view.

"Stop stalling," Both Ash and Four Eyes immediately snapped back to reality and turned their attention over to the blonde woman by the name of Bertha who was running out of patience with the boy.

"Why are we even having this conversation with this kid?" Vector intervened, giving everyone the hint that he was really annoyed. "So what if he has some kind of weird ability or weird freak on his side." Pikachu sent a hard glare at Vector. "He's not part of our main mission." the hooded man pointed out.

"To some degree he is." Spectre spoke.

"That's still not enough." the group's recon expert said, not satisfied with his comrade's answer. "Why don't we just kill them both right here and now?" Ash and Pikachu both froze. "Command did order us not to let a single survivor escape from Raccoon City." he reminded his teammates about their orders. "So what's stopping us?" he asked, waiting for a response.

"Now that you mention it…" Beltway thought for a moment before aiming his shotgun at the boy and his little mouse. "You're right. We've got a mission we need to finish." Soon he was joined by Vector, Spectre, and Bertha.

Ash couldn't believe it.

Were these people really going to kill them for something they didn't do? If so, for what purpose? What sadistic reason did they have to do such a thing? So many questions were going through his mind right now and the biggest one was… what should he do now?

…

Not too far from where the event was taking place, there was a young blonde woman in her early twenties on a rooftop. She was looking through a sniper rifle scope at the group. _'Survivors? Good.' _But once she took a closer look at the scene, something didn't feel right. _'What's going on down there?' _She immediately took notice that some of those suspicious people in black were advancing forward towards the boy and the cute little thing with weapons in hand. _'What are those people doing? He's just a kid!' _

Zooming in, the blonde-haired female spotted a familiar red and white logo on the group's outfits. _'Umbrella? What are Umbrella special ops doing here in Raccoon City?' _She was getting a bad vibe about this, but there was no time to worry about that.

The boy was in deep trouble.

'_I need to help him. Well, just long enough for him and his little, um…pet to escape.' _The blonde sniper chambered a round in her rifle before locking in on her objective. _'Well, here goes nothing…'_

…

As Vector, Beltway, Spectre, and Bertha were inching closer and closer to Ash and Pikachu, their team leader Lupo intervened and said. "Wait!"

Her teammates immediately paused and turned their attention over to her. "What is it, Lupo?" Vector asked, annoyed.

"Yeah, what gives?" Beltway the demolition expert didn't like it when he was being disturbed on the job.

The female leader threw a quick side-glance in Ash's direction before turning her attention right back to her team. "He could be useful to us." she said abruptly.

"Useful?" the shotgun user repeated. "As in how?" he asked, waiting for a response.

While the Wolfpack were having a little discussion over the matter, Ash, for whatever reason felt like something or _someone _was watching them from afar. And just like that, his aura senses were tingling. They were detecting a nearby source that was giving off a positive aura flow unlike Delta team who were giving off a massive negative feeling. Whoever it was, the young male had a strong feeling that they were here to help him and Pikachu.

"Pikachu…" the raven-haired boy whispered to his yellow buddy, in hopes to get his attention. The yellow mouse immediately turned to his human friend. "When I give the signal, you jump into the air and attack with a Thunderbolt."

Pikachu merely blinked.

"Just do it." the young teenager said in a quiet tone.

Pikachu didn't know what kind of plan Ash had up his sleeve this time, but he'd try anything to get out of this predicament. He had the utmost faith in his friend and his plan.

("Alright…") the yellow mouse squeaked quietly so only Ash could hear him. ("Whenever you are ready, let's do it.")

With the pair on the same page, it was only a matter of time until they made their move and strike.

Timing was the key.

Slowly, the adolescent trainer closes his eyes and counts to ten. _'One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten…!' _Soon the young male shot his eyes wide open and gave a loud shout. "Ready!"

The USS was taken aback by this.

Why was he shouting 'ready'?

Unless…

"The kid may be wearing a wire! Check him Vector!" Lupo ordered.

Before the recon expert could even take a step forward, a speeding bullet out of nowhere flew right past Beltway's shoulder and impacted the wall behind Vector, startling the group and distracting them from their two captives.

Less than a second after the impact Ash yelled, "NOW!"

With no time to waste, the yellow mouse quickly jumped into the air and unleashed hell. His Thunderbolt immediately shocked everybody including Ash until they dropped to both knees. Once his attack was over, Pikachu quickly hurried over to Ash's side.

("Ash!")

This was the second time the young teenager suffered a Thunderbolt today. Pikachu was really worried now. Getting shocked twice so soon wasn't healthy for the human body, even for someone as accustomed to it like Ash. Pikachu knew that his Thundershocks back in Kanto that he hit Ash with at the beginning of their Pokémon journey had been very weak compared to his present Thunderbolt.

"I'm okay, Pikachu." Ash tried to ease his friend's worries with a weak smile. "You don't need to worry." His little friend didn't buy into that lame story for one second. "Let's hurry up and leave!" Pikachu nodded to that.

Once the Pokémon trainer got up to his feet, the duo ran past all the members of the USS. While they were making their escape, the blonde woman who helped them out from earlier continued to keep a close eye on them from her position. She didn't know who they were, but she had a strong feeling that there was more to them than meets the eye. Overall, the female sniper was pretty much intrigued by them. It's not every day she comes across something unusual like this.

'_Who would have thought a mutant rat like that could pack such a serious punch?' _She pondered. _'But what surprises me the most is that kid…' _She eyed Ash suspiciously. _'He somewhat knew I was going to help him and took advantage of that. The timing for that maneuver was unreal!' _The blonde woman took a pause. _'Who is this kid?' _Then she took another pause before shaking her head. _'There's no time for that. I need to get out of here while I still can. I don't want to get pinned down by those guys.' _

Just when the female sniper was about to leave her position and report back to her team, she threw a quick side-glance over at Ash's prior location. _'Good luck, kid. Hope you stay alive…' _

Seeing that the boy was escaping from their grasp, Delta team quickly got up to their feet after shaking off the cobwebs from Pikachu's Thunderbolt. "Shit! He's getting away!" Vector cursed.

"After him!" Lupo ordered with an angry tone.

The chase was on.

…

They were running, _again_.

Ash and Pikachu were running for their lives, _again_.

To where they were heading, they had no idea. As long as it was somewhere safe away from the those people they wouldn't complain.

That is… until trouble reared its ugly head once again.

Suddenly, several bullets flew past the pair narrowly hitting them in the process. Ash and Pikachu looked over their shoulders and noticed that the Wolfpack was chasing them down despite their head start. The worst part about it was that they were shooting at them.

Their situation wasn't improving by any stretch of imagination.

The young trainer and the yellow mouse were running and dodging, trying desperately to evade each one of Delta squad's bursts of gunfire. They were lucky to have cars around to absorb some of the rounds, not to mention the distance between the two groups and the fact that the pursuers were shooting at moving targets while running. But even these factors weren't going to protect the duo from the ongoing danger forever.

As the pair was heading into an open area, one of the bullets from Delta team grazed the side of Ash's abdomen causing him to fall forward to the ground with a hiss of pain. Pikachu immediately stopped in his tracks and turned around to his fallen trainer.

("Ash!") The yellow rodent quickly rushed over to the young male's side. ("Are you okay?")

There was no time for chitchat. They needed to get a move on as their enemies were approaching fast.

Despite the pain and the bleeding, Ash quickly got to his feet with his hand covering the wound before taking off once again, only this time at a slower pace. Pikachu quickly followed right behind him.

'_I need to keep moving…' _He ran and ran. _'I can't let this pain slow me down…' _The pain was getting worse and worse each time he moved. '_No matter what!' _It was quite hard not to think about it.

The pair continued to run with all their might until they cut a corner around a building. Several seconds later so did the Wolfpack. But once the group turned around the corner, they found nothing in sight.

There was no trace of Ash.

There was no trace of Pikachu.

There was no trace of anyone.

The entire area was completely empty of life, undead or otherwise.

"Where the hell did the kid go?" Beltway asked no one in particular while being a little surprised about the unexpected outcome.

"Don't know." Vector answered while glancing around the area. "But that brat couldn't have gone far."

"Search around the area and find him!" Lupo was in a foul mood. "That's an order!" she barked.

With no time to waste, the USS began their search.

Unknown to the group, Ash and Pikachu were hiding behind a set of cars not too far from the intersection. The pair was trying to keep a low profile. They needed time to recuperate, especially the young trainer who wasn't looking so good. Beads of sweat were running down his face and his vision was becoming a bit blurry. Blood continued to drip from his wound through his fingers and soaked into his shirt.

This was not good, not good at all.

And things were about to get much worse.

As he was looking around, Beltway spotted something that caught his attention. It was a trail, but not just any trail. It was a trail of fresh blood and it was leading towards Ash and Pikachu's hiding spot.

"Hey, guys! Come over here. I think I found something." Beltway called out to his teammates who were advancing towards his direction.

Ash's heart skipped a beat.

The group studied the bloodstains closely. Soon their heads moved over to the three cars which were stacked on top of each other. Every member had a strong feeling that the boy and the yellow mouse were hiding behind those cars. It was only a matter of time before their little hiding spot was exposed.

"Alright, kid," Lupo and her team slowly approached. "We know you're there. Come on out!" she ordered.

No response.

"We're not playing around!" The Wolfpack just stopped a few feet from the cars. "Come on out!"

Still no answer.

Lupo gave a nod to Vector who immediately took the hint. The recon expert slowly advanced forward with weapon in hand. Step by step, the man approached the cars with caution until he quickly cut around and aimed his weapon to find nothing in sight. There was no one behind the cars.

"Shit! The kid gave us the slip!" Vector cursed out loud.

"How is that possible?" Four Eyes asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Who cares, we need to find him and fast!" Lupo intervened with a growl.

With that being said, Delta team headed off without knowing that the boy and the mouse never left the area in the first place. In fact, not too far from their previous location, Ash and Pikachu were hiding behind another set of stacked cars. Once the pair heard that the group were leaving and took off, Ash heaved a sigh of relief. He had managed to stop the trail of blood using both hands just long enough after passing that stack of cars to fool that strange group.

They were safe, but for how long?

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Originally, I was going to have something planned at the end, but I decided not to bring it up. Sorry if this chapter was kinda dull with no zombies in it. But at least Ash survived his encounter with the USS. The next chapter will be much more interesting. You will find out soon enough. Please R & R! Thank you! Until next time, peace out! **

**P.S. - Give the proofreading and editing credit to my beta-reader, **_Vandenbz_**.**

**Johan07**


	5. Chapter Five

**Aoi Hyoudou: **For those who were wondering in the last chapter, the reason why Lupo ordered her team not to kill Ash the first time around is because during the time, the other Delta team members were keeping their attention on Ash, Lupo and Four Eyes had a small chat. Four Eyes somewhat convinced Lupo that Ash could be useful to Umbrella's cause and whatnots. But in reality, Four Eyes sees Ash as an interesting test subject for her own agenda. So, yeah. There you have it.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from Pokémon or Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

**Rated: **T

**Word Count: **5,063

**Pairing (s): **To be determined

**Summary: **With Mistralton City and Ash's sixth gym battle just days away, Ash and his friends decided to take a short break from their long journey. But soon trouble begins to surface as Team Rocket appears and spoils the group's relaxation. During the heated confrontation, something unexpected happens, sending Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket into a whole new adventure, with danger lurking in every corner. Learning that he was no longer in Unova and now in a city where it's being overrun by flesh-eating zombies, Ash must find a way to get back home while dealing with problems, like Team Rocket, the undead, Lickers, Hunters, Mr. X, Nemesis, and two groups (U.S.S. and U.S. Spec Ops) who are interested in his unique ability, aura.

* * *

><p><strong>Echo Six <strong>

…

_Drip… drip…_

Fresh droplets of blood dripped onto the ground.

_Drip… drip…_

Each time Ash took a step, his condition worsened.

_Drip… drip…_

A place…

_Drip… drip…_

Where could he find a safe place to hide and rest?

_Drip… drip…_

If he continued to wander around aimlessly, there was no doubt his wound would get infected. Or worse, trouble would find him again. There was no time to waste. The young man needed to find a safe area and fast, no telling when trouble might strike again.

Ash and Pikachu walked and walked until the duo stumbled upon what it seemed like a broken down storefront. It wasn't much, but it was definitely something the pair could use right about now, a quiet place where they could rest up and stay low for the time being.

It was better than nothing.

Before the pair entered the abandoned store, they made sure to cautiously check their surroundings. The last thing they wanted to have someone or something spotting them. That would be a bad thing, especially with those suspicious people still out there hunting for them. That wasn't even including the creatures running around. Once the coast was clear the pair went inside.

Unknown to the young boy and the yellow mouse, Ash's blood trail was attracting a group of unwanted guests. From the very start, the horde of horrors was following the blood trail and they were slowly zoning in on Ash and Pikachu's location with one purpose on their minds: a free meal.

That fact would soon prove to be very inconvenient for the duo.

…

Upon entering the empty shop, the first thing that caught Ash and Pikachu's attention was that it was in a similar state of disarray like the one they woke up in. Not only was the area completely messy, it was quite dark. The only light that was keeping the place lit up was the moonlight that was shining through the glass windows. It was quite a familiar atmosphere but there was no time to go down memory lane. Ash needed to find something quick to help him clean up his wound. He couldn't always rely on his aura to step in and do the job for him. He had to take care of the problem himself.

"Come on Pikachu," The young male started in an exhausted tone. "Help me look for a first aid kit or something." he said to his little friend who quickly nodded.

Wasting no time at all, the pair scavenged around the store and the shelves for anything that would still be useful to them. Everything including the boxes that were stacked on the shelves was searched but they failed to find any medical supplies. Aisle after aisle, there was nothing but useless junk, empty boxes, outdated items, and more useless crap. Their search was going nowhere.

That is…until Ash spotted something white underneath a pile of dirty papers and small boxes on the floor behind the cash register. He didn't know what it was but he quickly walked over to it. Once the raven-haired trainer removed all of the useless stuff out of the way, he sighed in relief when he spotted a familiar white box with a red-cross logo. It was a first aid kit, or at least it seemed similar back to the ones he saw back home.

Perfect. Now Ash could finally bandage up his wound.

Once the young teenager opened the case, he slowly removed his hoodie, then his hat before lifting his stained shirt over his head and setting it to the side. Soon he checked his injury to see how bad it was. To his surprise it wasn't that bad, he was sure it had been more serious earlier. It was still bleeding but the wound didn't seem as deep. He was super lucky that the bullet hadn't hit anything major.

While the young male went through with the first aid procedures, he couldn't help but think about the times when Brock performed first aid on multiple occasions and taught him the basics. Learning was the key and his friend was a good teacher. Thanks to Brock's teachings and guidance, he was able to stop the bleeding and patch himself up.

Ash gently applied pressure with some gauze to stop the flow the blood, following up this action by combining a bottle of water and a nearby piece of cloth to wipe off the excess blood. "Ack!" Ash winced in pain when he rubbed alcohol over his injury with a cotton ball after taking away the gauze. The stingy sensation was unbearable, but somehow he managed to endure it.

Once the cleaning procedure was over, the raven-haired boy tossed away the bloody cotton ball to the side. Soon he patched up the clean wound with more gauze and covered it with a thin washcloth that was on the floor nearby. To make sure the cloth wouldn't shift when he moved, Ash wrapped his mid-section three times with some medical tape.

'_There! That should do it.' _Ash mentally gave himself a pat on the back. _'For now that is…'_

With his treatment out of the way and taken care of, the rookie aura user went on to put his shirt, hoodie, and hat back on. Just as he placed his Unova hat on his head, something clicked in the back of his mind. Something that he just remembered.

Slowly, the adolescent trainer reached behind his waist and pulled out the 9mm handgun that he picked up not too long ago. He didn't know why, but he felt quite attached to the weapon for some strange reason. The handgun from the deceased officer was definitely unlike the revolver he had trained with. It was much lighter and easier to hold. Ejecting the clip revealed a capacity of fifteen bullets per magazine. Certainly more ammunition than the revolver's six. Not bad. Something like that could prove useful when the time was right.

Pikachu stared at his friend with curious eyes.

'_Ash, what are you planning on doing with that?' _the yellow mouse wondered. _'Don't tell me you're-' _Was Ash really willing to go through with this and aim a weapon at something other than a practice target?

As much as Pikachu wanted to know, there was no time for that. The sound of breaking glass immediately diverted his attention away from the topic, Ash reacting to the loud noise as well.

The pair didn't know what made that racket, but it seemed like it was coming from the front entrance. Without thinking, the native boy and the yellow mouse stepped around the counter and moved to the center of the store where they found a group of unwanted guests stepping through the shattered glass.

One by one, the horde of infected turned their heads over to Ash and Pikachu. The pair slowly backed away as the people groaned at them and started to shuffle forward. Step by step, they kept moving closer with deadly intent.

"Quick Pikachu, hit them with a Thunderbolt!" Ash shouted.

Wasting no time at all, the electric rodent fired a Thunderbolt at their foes, zapping them until they dropped to the floor like sacks of potatoes. The danger wasn't over just yet though, it was only beginning.

Slowly, the moaning mob got to their feet and took another step forward only to receive another Thunderbolt from Pikachu. The attack immediately electrocuted each infected before dropping them to the floor once more. To Ash and Pikachu's surprise, the zombies were _still_ getting back up. This was becoming more troublesome than they thought.

Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt, the pack of horrors refuses to stay down. No matter how many times they got zapped, the people continued to climb to their feet. This was bad. None of Pikachu's Electric-type moves were having much effect on the infected. And to make matters worse, Pikachu was losing strength with each attack, not to mention the two of them backpedaling to keep their enemies at a distance.

Soon the young boy and the yellow mouse found themselves backed against the counter by the crazy mob.

Ash broke down into a cold sweat.

What should they do now?

The only thing that came to the boy's mind was to use armed force against the group. It was the only option the pair had left. Could he be willing to pull the trigger against another living being?

After a moment of hesitation, the raven-haired male finally made a decision. Once he removed the safety lock, he pointed and aimed the handgun at the infected with two hands. Every Jenny he encountered had been careful in teaching him to use both hands when shooting. Two hands were able to steady the gun to a greater degree, improving his accuracy and ability to handle the recoil per shot. Ash quickly learned the difference when he used only one hand, the recoil badly throwing off his aim after only one bullet! Even now he could remember the jolt and momentary pain from that experience. Ash himself preferred to shoot with one hand placed under the butt of the gun to support the weight.

("Ash!") Pikachu squeaked in utter disbelief. Was he really going through with this?

"I don't, I don't want to shoot you!" Ash pleaded the mob in a shaky tone. "Please stop!" The group didn't heed a single word from the boy's warning. "Please!" The crazy mob continued to advance forward.

The adolescent trainer chewed his bottom lip.

It looks like he had no other choice but to pull the trigger.

'_Forgive me…'_

***BANG***

The first shot had been fired. It quickly took down an infected by hitting him in the throat and knocking him backwards into the others. It began to sit up so Ash adjusted his aim for what he hoped to be a more effective target.

***BANG***

Ash fired a second shot and just like the first one, it made contact though the result was better as the bullet hit the person in the eye, causing him to crumple to the ground but not get back up.

***BANG***

***BANG***

Ash fired two more rounds, one hitting a zombie in the chest while the second one hit its mark perfectly in an infected skull.

One by one, the mob of horrors was dropping like flies until one of the infected managed to break through the boy's defenses and seize him by his shoulders. Just when the drooling fiend was about chomp on the boy's neck, Ash quickly moved his handgun underneath the infected's chin and pulled the trigger.

***BANG***

Part of the zombie's head exploded, droplets of blood hitting the young male's face and hoodie. Ash's eyes widened. The mere touch of that blood could be deadly, but the young male didn't have time to check for infection.

Once the dead zombie fell over to the side, another one lumbered forward only to receive a bullet in its mouth before falling down.

There was no end to this. No matter how many zombies the raven-haired trainer took out, more and more continued to show up.

Where were they all coming from?

Just when Ash took down a couple more infected with his shots, something went wrong.

***CLICK***

***CLICK***

Empty.

The adolescent boy couldn't believe it. At a time like this, he was out of bullets. This couldn't be happening!

Ash and Pikachu shifted their position to a nearby wall, Ash scrambling to eject the clip and pull another from his pockets. Sweat rolled down his forehead as he tried to pry the clip out, promising to himself to find a backpack or something similar to hold his extra ammunition for easier access.

Step by step, the infected were inching closer and closer when the young trainer finally pulled out a magazine. Ash looked up only to see the nearest zombie lunge towards him. He immediately shut his eyes and braced for the worst. Was this it? Was this the end of him and Pikachu?

Just when things were looking bad, something unexpected happened.

***BANG***

***BANG***

***BANG***

***BANG***

***BANG***

Several gunshots went off and it didn't sound like they were coming from Ash's 9mm handgun either.

Immediately, the raven-haired boy opened his eyes where he saw the flesh eaters collapsing to the ground.

The boy merely blinked.

What was going on?

Suddenly, Ash took notice that each one of the zombies had a fresh bullet wound through its skull. Blood started to pour out from the wounds onto the floor, forming a massive pool of red liquid and other assorted fluids. The leftover infected were dead.

The adolescent trainer and his yellow buddy couldn't believe their eyes. Lying before them were five bodies. Who could have done this?

"Hey kid, are you alright?" a cautious voice called out to the young teenager.

Immediately, the duo turned their attention away from the mass of bodies over to a brown-haired woman who was standing right before them with her 9mm handgun moving back to its holster that was strapped to her waist. She was in some kind of camo uniform with various pieces of gear around her body, Ash noticing a larger weapon slung across her back.

Ash and Pikachu stared at the mysterious woman for the longest time. Who was she and why did she suddenly help them? This seemed a little bit suspicious.

That is… until the woman said something unexpected that caught the pair off guard for a brief moment.

"And by the way, not bad," She stared at the dead zombies that Ash took care of earlier. "Not bad at all…" Her name was Willow and she was pretty impressed by the boy's skills in handling a firearm at such a young age. He reminded her a little bit about herself when she was younger.

"Huh?" The baffled boy didn't quite follow. What did she mean by that?

Before Ash could even get the chance to ponder over her comment, he took notice that the young woman was not alone. Right behind her were four individuals, one female and three males who were in a similar outfit like her. They too were equipped with various equipment similar to hers. Just by looking and studying each member carefully, the raven-haired boy and his little buddy had a strong feeling that these five were part of some kind of special group, similar to the one they came across earlier but without the weird masks.

"Hey kid!" Ash and Pikachu quickly snapped their undivided attention over to the red-haired female who had a strange accent. "Just hurry up and answer her already. We don't have all night." By the way she was speaking to him, she sounded really impatient and annoyed.

No answer.

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" she asked with sarcasm.

"Tweed!" A large bald man with a tattoo on his face abruptly intervened. "That's enough." He scolded his comrade for being so insolent to the boy. "Can't you see this k-"

Without warning, the raven-haired trainer pointed his unloaded handgun at the five strangers, completely startling them. Pikachu with the little amount of energy he had left backed up his friend with sparks of electricity leaking out from his red cheeks. The duo didn't trust this group for one second. There was something strange about them.

In response to the boy and his yellow rat thing's suddenly actions, the redheaded woman known as Tweed quickly aimed her weapon at the duo. "Asking for a fight?" she asked with a smirk. "You got o-Hey! What're you doing Dee-Ay!" The hotheaded woman suddenly frowned deeply at a man wearing a red bandana around his neck. He had interrupted her fun by lowering her weapon down with his hand. Ash guessed he was the group's leader as she allowed her weapon to go down and his general demeanor.

"Stand down, Tweed." He wasn't asking, he was ordering her to stand down. "We're not here to pick a fight with civilians." he reminded her.

"But he-"Her leader shook his head in disapproval and gave her a strong look. His orders were absolute. Tweed gritted her teeth in annoyance. It looks like she has no choice, but to follow orders. "F-Fine…!"

Once Dee-Ay told his other teammates to ease up and relax, the man turned his attention to Ash and Pikachu who were still glaring at the group with no intention of dropping their guard down anytime soon. Before the team leader could even get a word or two in, Ash abruptly cut him off.

"Who are you people?" the raven-haired male asked not backing down from the group. "And what do you want from us?"

Dee-Ay and his team could feel the tension from the boy and his little friend.

"Easy there, kid," the large man from before started. "Look!" The group slowly put away their weapons. "See, now why don't you do us a little favor too and do the same thing for us?"

Ash and Pikachu looked at one another. Should they trust these people? They did look a bit sincere, but looks could be deceiving.

After a long period of hesitation, the adolescent trainer and his yellow friend finally made the decision to lower their guard down for just a brief moment, but continued to stand their ground in case something bad happened. Trusting these people was still under consideration.

"There's no need to be alarmed, young man." Ash and Pikachu turned their attention to another man, this one with darker skin. "We're not here to hurt you or your little friend." He tried to reason with them.

"We're actually here to look for survivors." Dee-Ay cut in.

Ash raised an eyebrow at the man. "Survivors…?"

The team leader nodded.

"That's correct. We were ordered to look for survivors within Raccoon City." he explained, leaving out most of the details.

The raven-haired boy didn't know why, but he had a strong feeling that there was more to that answer than meets the eye. What was he hiding?

"For what reason, exactly?" the boy asked not leaving his gaze off the man. "Don't tell me you're with _that_ group we ran into earlier." He accused the bunch with a hard glare.

Dee-Ay and his teammates were a little lost. Group, what other group? Was he talking about another Spec Ops squad he came across? Or was there really another group out there besides them causing trouble?

Before any member of the famous Echo Six could even speak a word, a familiar voice abruptly intervened and answered the boy's question for them. "If you're talking about that Umbrella group that I saved you from, then no we are not with them in any shape or form."

Immediately, Ash and Pikachu looked forward to see a blonde figure walking right past Willow and Shona before standing right next to Dee-Ay. "Wait a minute, Party Girl, did you just say Um-"

"I'll tell you later." The blonde sniper abruptly cut her team leader off who quickly took the hint. Soon the young woman turned her attention to the boy who she helped out before with a warm smile on her face. "We're not your enemy so please trust us." she said to him in a warm tone of voice.

Ash didn't know why, but he felt like he could trust her. The feeling that he was getting from her was pure and innocent. There was no sign of deception within her tone. She must be telling the truth. If so, then it was alright for him and Pikachu to trust her and her team for now.

"Alright…" The young boy struggled with his words as he slowly dropped his guard. "I… trust you guys," The tension between the two sides slowly ended. The blonde woman known as Party Girl was happy to hear that and so did the others. "But who are y-"

"We'll answer any questions you may have for us," Party Girl abruptly interrupted him. "But first how about we get you cleaned up?" Ash blinked. "You look like a mess."

The raven-haired trainer looked at himself and true to be told she was right. His face and hoodie was still dotted in blood. "Oh, I guess you're right…" he muttered.

A loud rumble suddenly erupted and it sounded like it was coming from Ash's empty stomach. All eyes fell on the blushing trainer who was lowering his gaze to his feet. The blonde sniper giggled at Ash. "And it seems like you're a little hungry, aren't you?" she asked in amusement.

'_Tell me about it…' _the starving boy mentally groaned before his eyes fell on the dead bodies that were lying motionless before his feet. _'Hmm…' _He was still bothered by the decision he made earlier.

…

"…So to sum everything up, you're a faraway trainer who can befriend and train magical creatures like Pikachu to be your partners?" Party Girl tried to sum up everything that she and her group learned from the young trainer while he was getting checked on and cleaned up by Harley. In exchange for his background information and other whatnots, they had to give him some kind of information as to what was going on in Raccoon City and other little things that they were allowed to tell him. Once both sides shared what they knew, they were on the same page as the team had introduced themselves to Ash. Ash had found some of their codenames interesting, others a bit more confusing though he didn't question them.

"And you are here to look for your missing friends who you think might be around in Raccoon City. Is all of that right, darlin'?" she asked hoping she didn't left anything out.

"That's basically-"

"This might sting a little," Harley abruptly Ash who was sitting on the front counter of the store, shirtless and having removed his hat. "So brace yourself kid." he warned the boy before spraying the first aid spray over his wound.

"Ack!" The adolescent trainer winced in pain. "…It-!" He finished his sentence before the former biker patched his clean gash with a new covering.

"Fascinating! In all my life in research, this is the first time I have ever encountered something like this before." Shona spoke out with interest as he examined Pikachu who was circling his friend while writing notes down on his notepad for later use.

("I-I see…") the yellow mouse squeaked nervously.

Tweed who was keeping watch looked over her shoulder with an amused smirk on her face. _'That man will never change. He's like a little kid in a candy store.' _

"Sounds like a burden," Willow focused her attention on Ash while completely ignoring Shona's nonstop blabbering. She was holding Ash's handgun for whatever reason only she knew. It was loaded again, Ash had blushed badly when it was pointed out to him that the gun had been empty the whole time during their brief standoff. The team had shared a brief laugh over that fact. "But I'm sure you'll pull through in the end." she said to him with a small smile.

"We will try our best to help you as much as we can, Ash." Dee-Ay added. "So stay strong. I'm sure your friends are out there somewhere waiting for you." He gave some hope to the boy's cause.

The young trainer really appreciated all the support he was getting from Echo Six.

"There," Ash snapped his attention right back to Harley who just done finishing his job. "That should do it." he told his patient.

"Thanks, Harley." The young teenager gave the medic a warm smile.

"Anytime, kid, and-" The large man took a brief pause as he went through his backpack for something. "-Here!" Harley pulled out a white T-shirt which was clearly too big for Ash's size. "I know it's little too big for you, but we can't have you walking around with blood-stained clothes. You will definitely attract those things' attention." he told the boy.

"Just until we can find something suitable for you to wear." Party Girl added.

"Oh, okay…" the young trainer said slowly as he took the shirt from the older male. "Thanks."

While Ash was trying on the shirt, Willow made her approach. She was interested in this young man who had succeeded in surviving the hell known as Raccoon City. "Here," She presented the boy his gun and several 9mm ammo clips, several of which can from Ash's stuffed pockets. She also had a belt with a pouch mounted on it draped on one arm. "You'll be needing these."

Once Ash got his new shirt on, he turned his attention to the recon expert and stared at the handgun, clips, and pouch. He hesitated for a brief moment before taking the items from the woman. "Uh, thanks…"

Willow somewhat frowned at the boy's response, but nodded her head nonetheless.

As the raven-haired male was putting away his handgun and tucking the ammo in the pouch, his aura senses suddenly picked up not one, but two aura signals nearby. One was light, but the other one was definitely different. It was giving off a strong amount of negative feelings at the highest level he'd felt yet. Ash didn't know what he was sensing. In order to find out, he needed to track down where the presences were coming from.

Without warning, Ash jumped off the counter and ran past everybody before exiting the store with Pikachu riding on his shoulder, clipping on the pouch as he moved. "Ash!" Party Girl shouted.

"Where is he going?" Willow asked no one in particular as the group readied their weapons.

"I don't know, but it can't be good. Let's follow him." Dee-Ay ordered.

Echo Six immediately took off after the boy and the mouse, unaware that they were heading straight towards something out of their nightmares.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: What do you think were those two presences Ash's aura senses were picking up? And also did you like the interaction between Ash and the members of Echo Six and the firearm skills that Ash possesses? The next chapter will be something you guys will enjoy. You find out what it is soon enough. For now, please R & R! Thank you! Until next time, peace out!**

**P.S. - Give the proofreading and editing credit to my beta-reader, **_Vandenbz_**.**

**Aoi Hyoudou **(formerly known as Johan07)


	6. Chapter Six

**Aoi Hyoudou: **The poll for the chosen girl is finally over and the winner is… Claire Redfield! Thanks for voting! There will be some moments with Ash and Party Girl, but other than that Claire is going to be the one who ends up being with Ash in either this story or in a sequel. It all depends on what my beta reader and I want to do at this point.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from Pokémon or Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

**Rated: **T

**Word Count: **8,357

**Pairing (s): **Ash/Sienna "Party Girl" Fowler (platonic) - Ash/Claire Redfield (platonic)

**Summary: **With Mistralton City and Ash's sixth gym battle just days away, Ash and his friends decided to take a short break from their long journey. But soon trouble begins to surface as Team Rocket appears and spoils the group's relaxation. During the heated confrontation, something unexpected happens, sending Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket into a whole new adventure, with danger lurking in every corner. Learning that he was no longer in Unova and now in a city where it's being overrun by flesh-eating zombies, Ash must find a way to get back home while dealing with problems, like Team Rocket, the undead, Lickers, Hunters, Mr. X, Nemesis, and two groups (U.S.S. and U.S. Spec Ops) who are interested in his unique ability, aura.

* * *

><p><strong>Nemesis On The Loose<strong>

…

"Does anyone know where the hell we're going?"

"Don't know," That was not the answer Harley was hoping to hear. "But-"As the group was sprinting in order to keep up with Ash's pace, Dee-Ay spotted something that came into his sight up ahead. It was a big building, most likely a station of some sort and what made it stand out the most were those three big letters above its doorframe, R.P.D.. "It looks like we're heading towards the Raccoon City Police Department." Dee-Ay informed his team.

"Huh. That's strange." Willow muttered to herself. "That's where HQ ordered us to go." Her teammates were thinking the same thing. It must be a coincidence.

Just as Ash and Echo Six were moving in towards the police station for reasons only Ash knew, the young trainer suddenly came to a quick halt causing the Spec Ops to stop as well. What was the holdup? Why did he suddenly stop running?

The elite group quickly noticed that the boy and his yellow friend were looking at something off to the left. Echo Six turned their attention in that direction where they saw a young brown-haired woman in a tube top and skirt-like shorts with various gear strapped on running straight in their direction. And by the looks of it, she wasn't alone. Stomping right behind her was some kind of monstrous creature in what looked like an extremely durable overcoat, possibly bulletproof. The most noticeable part of the monster was its disfigured features, surgical staples stretching over its skull and where an eye used to be.

Coming to a brief stop, the creature turned its attention to a city bus that was on its side. The monstrous creature stomped over to the broken down bus before placing its hands on the sides. With all the strength it had, the monster easily pushed the bus towards the running woman.

Sensing danger, the brown-haired female did a quick glance over her shoulder to see the sliding bus approaching fast. Acting quickly, she increased her pace before using a car up ahead as a boost to help her jump off a wall to get clear of the oncoming vehicle. The bus flipped onto its wheels as it slid to a stop against the car and a barricade, the woman rolling for several feet after landing from the jump.

Once the disgruntled female recovered from her little fall, she quickly turned her attention over to Ash and Echo Six who were standing by a short distance from her. "Run!" she barked at them.

The group didn't budge from their positions.

"S.T.A.R.S.!" The one-eyed creature was stomping its way over to them.

On second thought, maybe running wasn't such a bad idea. There was no point in sticking around to fight that thing if they didn't know what they were dealing with.

As soon as the brown-haired woman ran past Ash and Echo Six, the group immediately followed right behind her. "What is that?" Tweed asked in a slightly panicked tone.

"And why in the heck is it chasing us?" Harley asked the new girl who was leading them into a dark alley.

"There's no time to explain," The young female cast a glance over her shoulder. "We need to get as far away as possible from that thing."

Ash stared at her. He don't know why, but he was getting a weird feeling about her. After all of the times that Ash had been deceived by people like Team Rocket in their disguises the young trainer could tell she was hiding something from them. What was it?

Just as the group went further into the alley, more trouble started to appear. Swarming out from their hiding spots, a mass of infected blocked the group's way. But… their temporary addition had a solution for that problem.

"Just shoot through them! We can't slow down!" she told her temporary party.

Ash's group decided that it was a good suggestion. In no time, each member of Echo Six shot through most if not all of the infected that got in their way while Ash and Pikachu kept back from the fight and their eyes forward on the brown-haired female. Once the group bypassed all the infected, they were in a clear street where they encountered something they weren't expecting to see so quickly.

It was big, ugly, and it was just up ahead waiting for them. Ash, Pikachu, Echo Six, and the mysterious woman were a little surprised. How in the world did it get in front of them? Moments ago, it was right behind them and now it was ahead of them? What was going on here?

Suddenly, the one-eyed monster lashed out at the brown-haired woman with some kind of tentacle from its open palm. The tentacle immediately wrapped itself around the female's neck as the monstrous creature started to pull her forward.

Ash and Echo Six quickly decided to help her out. If they didn't then she was definitely going to die.

While Party Girl, Shona, and Harley covered the rear for any sign of sneak attacks from nearby infected, Ash, Dee-Ay, Willow, and Tweed went on the offensive. The foursome fired round after round of bullets at the creature but nothing seemed to work. The creature withstood their shots without even flinching though the rate it was dragging the woman seemed to slow down.

This was bad.

"Shit!" the leader of Echo Six cursed. "Our shots aren't working." He gritted his teeth.

Ash had a strong feeling that was the case.

"So what should we do then?" Tweed took a brief pause and asked before shooting again.

That was a good question. If firearms weren't going to do the jobs, then what would? What could stop or at least stun the monster at this point?

Ash took a brief pause until his eyes fell on the creature's face. Unlike the body, it didn't have anything to protect itself. It appeared somewhat vulnerable. Maybe it was a sign that he should try shooting the face. Only one way to find out.

The raven-haired trainer subtly adjusted his position and aimed his handgun towards the monster's face. Once his eyes were set on his target, Ash let loose and pulled the trigger.

The young male fired several shots. The one-eyed fiend didn't flinch after a couple of hits, but once a direct bullet hit it in its stapled eye the creature stumbled backwards a few steps, releasing its firm hold on the brown-haired female who immediately dropped to her knees and gasped for air.

Quickly, the young lad hurried over to the fallen woman's side. "Are you okay?" he asked in a worried tone while kneeling down to her level.

"I'm fine…" The young female was trying to catch a breath. "Thank y-" As soon as she looked up to thank Ash for saving her life, she caught a glimpse of something yellow on her savior's shoulder. It was an oversized yellow rodent. In all of her life, she hadn't seen anything like this before. She was a little intrigued by it. As much as the brown-haired female wanted to ask the kid where he got the yellow rodent from, there was no time for that. She had bigger problems to deal with.

"We have to get going. We can't stop!" the young woman told the raven-haired trainer.

Before Ash could even get a word in, the unpredictable female shot straight up to her feet and ran past the temporarily stunned monster into another alley. "Hey! Wait up!" the adolescent boy called out before chasing after her.

Seeing that Ash was following the Raccoon City survivor through another alley, Party Girl quickly turned to her teammates. "Guys, we need to get going!"

Once Dee-Ay killed an infected with his assault rifle, he turned his attention to his fellow squad members and nodded. "Alright. Let's go!" he ordered.

With no time to waste, Echo Six hightailed out of the area and followed Ash and the female survivor through the alley.

Shaking off the cobwebs from the earlier shot by the young trainer, the one-eyed monster looked over to the alley where it saw its target and her comrades escaping from its grasp. "S.T.A.R.S.!" it roared in anger before stomping after them. There was no way it was going to let one of its prime target escape.

Failure was not an option. The Nemesis would not be stopped.

…

They ran and ran until the group came across a little problem. It was a dead end. The alley that they took was a complete dead end with no place for them to run. Not only that but they were boxed in by a swarm of horrors. And to make matters worse, the angry creature was approaching them. Ash could even hear zombies being smashed aside as they blundered into its path.

"Damn it!" Harley cursed as he takes out an infected with his rifle. " We're trapped!" He took out another one.

"Any-" Willow knifed an infected through its neck with her trusty knife before swiftly kicking it away from her. "-bright ideas, guys?" she asked no one in particular within the group.

Once the young trainer took out five horrors with his handgun and ejected the empty magazine for a new one his belt pouch, he turned his attention to Pikachu. "Pikachu," His yellow companion immediately turned to him. "Can you use your Electric-type moves yet?" he asked his little buddy.

The electric rodent wasn't quite sure. ("Hmm… let me check.") The yellow Pokémon tried to build up electricity within his body to its full extent, but to no luck. He could only produce a small spark at this time. ("Nope, sorry…")

Well, that wasn't something the young teenager wanted to hear. If Pikachu couldn't use his Electric-type attacks, then what should they do? Ash and his group wouldn't be able hold off the infected and the big monster forever. Things were looking grim.

That is until several gunshots went off though they weren't aimed at their attackers. Ash, Pikachu, and Echo Six immediately turned their attention over to their temporary party member who, for whatever reason was shooting at a ramp that was attached to a building's fire escape ladder. In no time the ramp fell, creating a new path for the group to take.

"This way," the brown-haired female instructed as she ran up the ramp.

"Nice one." Dee-Ay commented on her quick thinking. The group immediately followed her after taking out a few more infected in the process.

Ash and Echo Six followed the woman until they reached the top level of the building. A wooden platform used to move to the neighboring structure where the group stopped in front of a door.

"We have to keep mo-" Just as the brown-haired female was about to turn the knob, Dee-Ay stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

"We will!" he told her with a firm voice. "Just tell us what we're dealing with." His grip tightened around her wrist.

The Raccoon City survivor turned to him. She stared at him before taking a quick moment to glance at everyone else around her. The young woman heaved a deep sigh. "Fine… truth be told I don't know what it is." She started. "But I do know that nothing can stop it." She added.

"What do you mean, nothing can stop it?" Ash asked a little bit confused.

"Like I said before," The brown-haired woman turned to the boy who had saved her life. "There's no time to explain. We have to keep on moving!" She repeated herself before removing Dee-Ay's grip from her wrist and headed inside with everyone else quickly following right behind her.

…

Inside, the group swiftly eliminated every single infected lurking in the halls of the building before exiting out through the back door into another alley. And unlike the last one, this one wasn't filled with flesh-eating civilians. Once Ash and company went through the alley, they were out in the open of a new area of the city with no threat in sight. They were in the clear, for now at least.

Just as the mysterious woman was about to move forward, Dee-Ay once again prevented her from advancing by pulling on her arm. "Wait, who are you?" he asked her.

The young female had to make this quick. "Jill Valentine. I used to be with S.T.A.R.S."

"And let us guess, that creature's one of Umbrella's creations." Dee-Ay tried to sum it up.

"Yeah, we're not exactly Umbrella's favorite people. We've been investigating some of their more questionable activities for a while now." Jill took a brief pause. "And _that _thing, Nemesis is out to keep us quiet." She added.

'_Nemesis? Umbrella? S.T.A.R.S.?' _Okay, Ash was officially lost. He didn't have a single clue what they were talking about and he wasn't alone. Pikachu didn't know what was going on either. All of this was just too much for their brains to handle.

"Where you headed?" the leader of Echo Six asked the former S.T.A.R.S. member, drawing the young trainer and the yellow mouse's attention back to the current topic.

"Out of town - you should do the same." Jill highly advised the group.

"Not quite yet, love," Tweed intervened, drawing attention. "We've civilians to rescue first."

"And we promise this young man here that we would assist him in locating his missing friends." Shona added.

"There are no survivors. They're all dead. All turned into those zombies courtesy of Umbrella's research." The brown-haired female informed them causing Ash's heart to sink upon hearing those words. No survivors? Did that include Iris and Cilan? No… Ash couldn't believe that until he sees it for himself. Until then Jill's words were nothing but guesswork.

Jill stared at each member of Echo Six suspiciously. "And you guys don't look like any rescue team I've ever seen." she said before turning her attention over to Ash and Pikachu. "And what is _that _thing on your shoulder? It's unlike anything I've ever seen before, some sort of B.O.W.?"

"Uh…" The raven-haired boy started to sweat a little.

"It's a little complicated to explain, darlin'." Party Girl came to the boy's rescue. "It's best not to ask."

The former S.T.A.R.S. member stared at the young lad a little bit longer which was making him a little bit nervous by her staring. Taking in the blonde sniper's words for now, Jill didn't press on the subject any further. "Alright, well… I can't stay." she abruptly said which had some effect on the group but not much. "And I suggest you get out of Raccoon City as well while you still can."

With that being said, Jill went over to a random building that had a wooden door and kicked it open before going inside, leaving everyone else behind pondering on what she just mentioned. Unfortunately, it didn't last for too long as Ash's aura senses were detecting a familiar aura flow in the distance. It was joined by several negative aura presences with several more positive ones as well. In no time, Ash started to feel lightheaded. Sensing all these aura presences was getting to him and not in a good way either.

Just then, the dizzy trainer felt a light tap on his shoulder, the one that wasn't occupied by his yellow buddy. He slightly flinched before turning his undivided attention over to the one who tapped his shoulder. Ash came face-to-face with Party Girl who had a worried expression on her lovely face.

"Are you feeling alright, darlin'?" she asked him in a caring tone. "You look a bit pale." No sooner did she ask that all eyes were on the boy.

Sensing that the group was a little worried about him, Ash gave them a weary smile. "No worries. I'm fine, just a little dizzy that's all." He told them which most including Pikachu didn't buy into that lame excuse for one second. They know something was bothering him.

"Ash, if there's something bothering you, it's okay to talk about it." Dee-Ay said.

"We're all friends here aren't we?" Harley asked.

The young trainer chewed his bottom lip. It looks like he had no other choice but to come out and say it. But before he did, Ash pointed his finger over to a big building which made everyone turned their heads over to it. "There's something going on over there."

"How do you know?" Willow asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Ash scratched his cheek nervously. "I, uh, kinda sense it." Echo Six looked a bit skeptical. "But there's no time to explain. We need to hurry!"

Without warning, the young teenager dashed off to the building with Pikachu hanging on for dear life. "Ash!" Party Girl called out.

"That kid doesn't know when to stay put, does he?" Tweed was a bit amused by Ash's antics.

In no time, Echo Six quickly followed the raven-haired native of Kanto into the building and up the stairs. As the group was advancing up to the top floor, they could hear gunfire and explosions going off. They didn't know where the sounds were coming from until they reached the top level and went through a red door that led to the rooftop of the building. Once the group was outside and on the roof, the origin of the sounds they heard from earlier was as clear as day. Accompanying those loud noises were loud shouts and a familiar roar that Ash and company had heard before.

"S.T.A.R.S.!"

Quickly, the party headed over to the ledge and crouched down. As they peered over the ledge they see a fierce battle going on. On one side was a group of six men who were dressed and geared in a similar fashion like Echo Six, with the main difference being that they were wearing gray wool masks over their faces. Two bodies lay on the ground in their attire, one riddled with bullets and the other seemed to have a broken neck. On the opposite side was a group of ten men who were outfitted in a similar fashion to the other group Ash encountered before. They were all in black with the same gas masks, except for one who had a gas mask with red lenses to separate himself from the rest. And not only were they were winning, they had Nemesis on their side. It didn't look too good for the military as they were being pinned down.

"Shit!" Dee-Ay cursed. "Squad C is in deep trouble!"

"We need to assist t-"

"Ahh!" A loud scream immediately cut Willow off.

Soon everyone turned their attention right back to the scene where they see one of Squadron C members in dire straits. Nemesis had a good grip on him. The monstrous being was using the same tactic that it used on Jill from before. Its tentacle attack was dragging the poor soldier forward. He needed help and fast if his comrade on the ground with the shattered neck was any indication.

"Pikachu," The yellow mouse turned to his friend. "Are you still tired?" the young trainer asked.

("A little bit, why?")

"I want you to use Thunderbolt and fast!" Ash wanted to save the man's life and the only way to do that was to have Pikachu use one of his Electric-type moves. "We need to save that guy!"

With a quick nod, the electric rodent leapt into action. He jumped off his friend's shoulder and landed on the ledge. Soon the little mouse had charged his body with every ounce of electricity he had left. Once he had enough power, he released it all in one clean blast.

The Thunderbolt hit Nemesis with an explosion of electricity and light, completely surprising everyone including the two groups who were fighting one another. The ones most surprised about this were the members of Echo Six. They couldn't believe what they had just witnessed. Everything that Ash told them from before was true. The pair wasn't from around here or in the same universe for that matter; Pikachu's attack had proved them right after all.

"I can't believe it. The kid was telling the truth." Harley was completely lost for words.

"Who would have thought?" Willow muttered under her breath.

"Not me…" Party Girl admitted.

"This is going to be far interesting than I thought it would be." Tweed had a smirk on her face.

"You can say that again," Shona was writing things down in his small notepad for later use, also noting Pikachu fall unconscious from the effort and Ash pull him back from the ledge.

The one-eyed B.O.W. fell to one knee from the sheer power of the strike, releasing its hold on the Spec Ops soldier who was completely baffled on what had just happened. He had enough presence of mind to immediately scramble away from the monster that nearly killed him though.

"Hey! Where did that lightning bolt come f-" Before a Umbrella grunt could even finish his sentence, a bullet pierced through his helmet and he dropped dead to the ground with a loud thud.

The rest of the Umbrella squad immediately looked up from their current positions over to the rooftop where could they see Echo Six shooting at them. Some of the grunts tried to return fire but Echo Six had the advantage from their elevated position. Any Umbrella soldier who emerged from cover too long was either injured or killed by the US soldiers.

While Party Girl was supporting the group and her allies with her sniping skills, the rest would provide suppressive fire. The tide of the battle seemed to be in their favor. The Umbrella troops were outnumbered and outgunned with Nemesis still stunned from Pikachu's Thunderbolt.

"Shit!" one of the two grunts who were taking cover behind a car cursed. "What are we going to do now?" he asked the other.

"I think I know." The latter pulled out a hand grenade from one of his strap pockets. "Cover me Frank!"

"My name is Bryan!"

"Whatever! Just cover me Harry!" He snapped.

Mumbling under his breath, the grunt known as Bryan gave his comrade some covering fire. No sooner did the second grunt remove the pin from the grenade before tossing it towards the roof only to be caught by Ash of all people, once again surprising everyone on the scene.

"Impossible!" the grunt who threw the grenade said in shock.

Wasting no time whatsoever, Ash threw the armed hand grenade right back at the two grunts like he would with a Poké ball. It was a good toss. The armed grenade bounced twice before rolling underneath the same car that the two grunts were hiding behind as it stopped in between the two. Their attempts to evade the imminent explosion only resulted in them falling over each other in a heap.

"Nice toss, bud." Bryan the grunt said sarcastically.

"Shut up, Fred!" the latter snapped as he struggled to get to his feet.

"For the last time, my name is-"

***BOOM***

"Nice throw, kid." Tweed complimented on the young trainer's toss with a grin which made him a little embarrassed.

While Ash and Echo Six were still assisting Squadron C in dealing with the remaining troops of Umbrella and containing Nemesis as much as possible, they were completely unaware that two backup Umbrella soldiers were climbing up the fire escape ladder to sneak behind them. Slowly, the two men approached the group and aimed their weapons at them. Before they could even get a chance to pull the trigger, they were each cut down with a bullet to the head. They didn't even have time to wonder where the shots had come from.

Surprised by the sudden gunfire, Ash and Echo Six turned around to they see the two grunts slump to the ground. The group had no idea who had saved their lives.

That is… until the only member who didn't look too surprised spoke up. "Well, that takes care of those two." Willow said as she lowered her handgun down where everyone was staring at her in amazement. She was glad that her instinct to move to the side of the door only a minute before had paid off. The rest of the team hadn't noticed her move on account of their shock at Ash's return of the enemy's grenade.

"Nice job, Willow." Harley complimented his comrade who merely shrugged her shoulders.

"It's no big deal."

Once the group and Squadron C took care of the remaining Umbrella grunts, they had one more obstacle they had to deal with which was Nemesis. The beastly creature was not in a happy mood.

"S.T.A.R.S.!" it roared angrily.

The programming in Nemesis' brain then altered its tactics to account for the intervention of heavily armed enemies. Nemesis immediately began moving away from the scene towards a weapons cache planted earlier by an Umbrella helicopter.

The battle was finally over, for now that is.

…

Ash and Echo Six was able to rendezvous with Squadron C, asking questions such as if any of the surviving soldiers had seen any of Ash's friends or for information on possible obstacles en route to Echo Six's main objective though they were unable to learn anything of value. After a quick break, including the promise of a round of drinks from Squadron C which caused Tweed to laugh at Ash who declined in embarrassment, the group headed off to their next destination which was City Hall. The grateful soldier that Pikachu saved had given Ash a small backpack to carry Pikachu to express his thanks. But as they were leaving, the party was unaware that _someone_ was still alive and hiding behind a car.

"Ugh, ugh…" The one U.S.S. grunt that had the gas mask with the distinctive red lenses from earlier was still alive but injured. He was bleeding from one of his shoulders and from his left abdomen. It didn't look like he had much time left unless he received medical attention. He needed to hurry and report in to Delta team about this little incident and possibly patch himself up. "…I need… to find a safe place to report… in." Slowly, the wounded grunt got to his feet and sluggishly walked off while keeping evidence of his presence as low as possible from Squadron C who was still in the area.

Unfortunately for the grunt, his blood trail was attracting some unwanted visitors.

…

As Ash and Echo Six were heading towards City Hall, for reasons only Echo Six knew, the young trainer suddenly stopped in his tracks, causing everyone else to halt too.

"What's the matter, Ash?" Dee-Ay asked the young teenager who seemed a bit troubled about something.

Ash didn't know why, but it felt like the party's job wasn't quite done just yet. They still had unfinished business as his aura senses were acting crazy again. They were detecting Nemesis' dark aura flow nearby.

With no time to waste, the adolescent boy hurried off to a building that was a little off course from the group's destination. "There he goes again." Willow shook her head in disbelief. That boy was something else.

"Should we follow him?" Shona asked no one in particular.

"Well, of course!" Party Girl answered. "We can't have Ash go off on his own like that can we?" she asked her comrades. Dee-Ay would have to agree with her. Letting Ash go off by himself with Pikachu would be a bad idea, especially if something was going on that was making the young boy act strange.

"You're right, Party Girl." The blonde sniper was happy to see someone was on her side. "We can't have him going off on his own like this. City Hall will have to wait a little longer." the team leader said.

"Hmm, if you say we should wait, then I have no problem with it." Harley was fine with pushing their main objective to the side for a brief moment. "That kid has kinda grown on me."

"Let's go!" Tweed was itching for some action.

With their minds set, Echo Six set off and followed the Kanto native into the building. Once the party regrouped, they went upstairs until they reached the top level before exiting out through an open entrance that led to the roof. At first, nothing was out of ordinary until the group walked over to the edge where they look down and spotted a familiar figure standing right in front of a gas station with s_omething _within its grasp.

"Is that a Gatling gun?" Willow was really surprised to see a B.O.W. holding a heavy weapon like the Gatling gun before their very eyes. Guns like that were impossible to be wielded by foot soldiers yet Nemesis only seemed to need one hand!

In no time, Nemesis focused its attention mainly on Echo Six, apparently disregarding Ash and the unconscious Pikachu as threats. Once every member of the Spec Ops was accounted for, the monstrous creature let loose with a barrage of high-caliber rounds at its primary targets.

The party immediately moved back from the edge to avoid Nemesis' onslaught. Not only was this bad, it was about to get much worse when a bullet flew by and grazed the side of Ash's left cheek, leaving a good cut on his face with small drops of blood dripping from the clean wound.

Everyone quickly dived for cover, Ash being careful to avoid hurting Pikachu. Careful examination of their surrounding yielded the sight of a U.S.S. grunt on a rooftop armed with a sniper rifle. Seeing that his location was exposed didn't stop him from pulling the trigger yet again.

Acting quickly, Ash and Echo Six ducked back behind the ledge, the bullet almost finishing the job left behind by the first shot.

"Party Girl!" Dee-Ay called out to the team's sniper expert who immediately took the hint and nodded.

"On it," she quickly said as she took her position. Once the blonde woman had the enemy sniper in sight, she pulled the trigger before he could change targets.

Her shot was dead on, piercing through the grunt's mask and instantly killing him.

Just when Ash and his group thought they had taken care of one problem, another one had to appear. Suddenly several gunshots hit the ledge, causing some of the party members to flinch. Quickly, Dee-Ay peeked over the ledge where he saw two more Umbrella grunts accompanying Nemesis.

"Willow! Party Girl! Take them out! Dee-Ay ordered. "We'll cover you!" He added.

The two women nodded. Once the two females readied their rifles, they gave the group the signal to back them up. Ash and the rest of the members took the hint and opened fire, Dee-Ay even going the extra mile to draw the enemy's attention by running from one end of the roof to the other. While Nemesis took most of the hits, the two grunts quickly ducked behind the nearby cars as they continued to shoot back.

Now that the two men and Nemesis were being distracted, it was Willow and Tweed's chance to focus their attacks and strike.

Willow's shot immediately took out the one on the left while Party Girl's shot killed the one on the right. Once both grunts were down, the party returned their main focus onto Nemesis. They tried to slow down the creature, but their shots weren't having much effect on it as it continued to pepper their position with its Gatling gun.

"Does anyone have a plan?" Harley asked loudly with the heavy firing going on in the background as he reloaded his gun.

"Pikachu," Ash turned his head to his little buddy who had just regained consciousness. "Can you use another Thunderbolt?" the raven-haired boy asked.

The yellow mouse sitting in Ash's new backpack considered the idea. ("Let me see.") Pikachu squeaked. The electric rodent tried to generate electricity through his body, but no luck, not even a little spark. He was still tired after hitting Nemesis with the overcharged Thunderbolt from earlier. ("Sorry…I can't.")

"Oh… well, that's okay Pikachu." The young trainer gave his disappointed friend a small smile.

No, it wasn't okay. Pikachu felt he was totally useless without his electrical attacks, and knew that even his physical attacks in his prime would only get him chewed up by Nemesis' gunfire. He needed to do something to help the group out, but what? Once Nemesis' weapon tracked over to a different target, Pikachu immediately poked his head out and did a quick scan around the area where he spotted several things that could be useful to the party before ducking right back down to report his findings to his trainer.

("Ash, I think I found something we could use.") The yellow mouse squeaked to his friend.

The young trainer blinked at his yellow friend. "Really?"

Pikachu nodded.

Once the electric rodent motioned his trainer to peek over the ledge after avoiding getting hit by several bullets from Nemesis' Gatling gun, he motioned his friend to look over towards a set of red barrels that had warning labels that read 'flammable' with a large symbol depicting a fire. ("Those") The yellow mouse started. ("Maybe we could use those to slow it down or something.")

"Hmm…" That wasn't such a bad idea. If gunfire wouldn't work on Nemesis, then why not try explosions? Such ideas had always taken care of Team Rocket's machines so it sounded like a plausible course of action. The problem was that Nemesis was just too far off from the barrels. If Ash executed the plan right now, the Nemesis would only feel the residual heat from the explosions at best. He needed to figure out a way to make the plan work, a way to get Nemesis close enough to the barrels. But how? The only thing that came to mind was to have someone act as live bait to lure the creature over there. Knowing Echo Six, they probably wouldn't do it since they knew it'd be crazy to go out there alone with a creature that had a Gatling gun and a wide field of fire. The only person who would be crazy enough to be live bait was Ash himself and no one else. The Kanto native was used to doing crazy and reckless stuff back during his journeys so this was no exception.

What could go wrong?

"Uh, guys, I know this sounds crazy and all, but I need to go down there!" Ash said in a determined tone which made Echo Six stared at him as if he was insane.

"You're right, kid. You _are_ crazy!" Harley commented. "Are you trying to die or something?" he asked in a disbelieving tone.

"There is no way we are letting you going down there by yourself with or without Pikachu!" Dee-Ay told the boy with a strict voice.

"But I have a plan!" Ash tried to reason with the group.

"Plan or no plan, it's too dangerous darlin'." This time it was Party Girl's turn to try to reason with the young trainer, but to no avail.

The stubborn trainer knew that he might regret this later and might lose some of the group's trust in the process, but there was no way he was going to stand still and do nothing. Permission or not, he was going to go with Pikachu's idea anyway. But before he could even make a run for it, something interrupted him in a rather unwelcome manner.

Everyone suddenly heard a loud commotion on the lower level of the building. They didn't know what it was. "What was that racket?" Harley asked no one in particular.

"Don't know, but it sounded like it came from downstairs!" Willow answered the medic's question.

No sooner did the recon expert say that as the party could hear a set of footsteps climbing up the stairs. Immediately, everyone turned their heads over to the doorway where they saw a group of five zombies pour out.

"Shit!" Dee-Ay cursed.

The party quickly dished out a barrage of bullets at the new threats and to their surprise, several of their shots missed the five horrors due to their strange movements. These zombies were unlike the other ones Ash and Echo Six had encountered before. They were much faster than the rest. And not only that, they had razor sharp claws, their faces and skin color stained crimson with their pupils turned pure white.

As surprising as these things were, the party had no problem subduing each one as time passed with Tweed taking out the closer threats with her shotgun and the others focusing their shots on the more distant zombies. Dee-Ay and Harley took turns firing on Nemesis to keep him from taking advantage of the sudden attack. That is until the last zombie lunged to the right and seized Ash by his shoulders as it tried to take a bite out of him. "Get off!"

Seeing that he was in trouble, Party Girl quickly took out her handgun and dished out several shots to the zombie's head and freed the raven-haired boy from its grasp. Taking this opportunity, Ash kicked the body away and ran for the stairs.

"Ash! Where are you going?" Party Girl called out.

Dee-Ay gritted his teeth before quickly turning his attention to Tweed and Harley. "Tweed! Harley! Follow Ash and bring him back here! We'll cover you!" he ordered.

"Roger." the redheaded woman said with a nod.

"Leave it to us!" the former biker exclaimed.

In no time, the pair took off and went after the crazy kid out of the building.

…

After exiting out the building with no trouble at all, Ash moved quickly to duck behind a dumpster that was near a barricade. Soon the young trainer and the yellow mouse were joined by two angry Echo Six members who were demanding answers from the boy's mouth.

"Good God kid, what the hell is your problem?" Harley demanded with a glare.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Tweed asked with a deep frown.

Ash sighed deeply. "Look! I'm sorry, okay, but I had to do this." He tried to convince the two with his reason which didn't seem like it was working.

"Do what ex-"

Suddenly, the demolition expert was rudely interrupted when countless bullets slammed against the dumpster they were hiding behind. "Shit! It found us!" Harley cursed.

Ash, Pikachu, Tweed, and Harley were under some heavy fire by Nemesis. Their other group members tried to help them out but nothing seems to deter their enemy. The one-eyed creature didn't seem like it was bothered by Dee-Ay and the others' shots. It continued to pin down Ash and his group. They needed to do something and fast, the dumpster would only hold together for a short time under gunfire that intense regardless of its contents.

"I'm going to try to lure it away from us." the young teenager told the two members of Echo Six who couldn't quite hear him what he just said over Nemesis' Gatling gun.

"What?"

Ignoring the pair, Ash turned to Pikachu. "Let's go, buddy!"

In no time, the Kanto native made his move and ran all the way to the left before cutting around to come face to face with Nemesis. "Hey!" Ash shouted out to the creature who somewhat heeded the boy's shout and stopped its attack as it looks over to the boy's direction. "Come and get us!"

Echo Six gasped in shock. They don't know if Ash was suicidal or brave, but taunting Nemesis like that took a lot of guts. They have to give him some credit for that.

The Umbrella creature stared at the boy and his little friend for a brief moment. Tension was in the air. That is until Nemesis completely ignored Ash and Pikachu and went back to shoot at Tweed and Harley's position.

Ash and Pikachu were quite surprised to witness this. They didn't know why Nemesis was completely ignoring them while focusing on the others. While it was a good thing, it was also a bad thing as their strategy wasn't exactly going according to plan as they expected. The duo needed to come up with an alternative solution. After some quick thinking, Ash came up with something that might actually work. If they can't get Nemesis to come to them with yelling, then they would to convince him with something a little more powerful. It was the only way.

Quickly, the young trainer rushed over to the set of fuel barrels that Pikachu had mentioned before. He took hold one of them and slowly dragged it away. He didn't expect that a full fuel tank would be so heavy. It was a struggle but he managed to pull it until it was lined up with Nemesis. Once there he tipped it over onto its side and braced it with a rock. Ash repeated the cycle three more times but altered the location of the other barrels until he had them positioned next to the gas pumps.

Phase one was complete. Now for phase two.

Ash managed to roll the overturned barrel towards Nemesis, relieved that there was a slight slope to the ground to keep the barrel moving. It continued to roll until it hit the Nemesis' foot with a tap.

Immediately, the one-eyed B.O.W. stopped his attack for just a brief second before looking down at his feet. Soon it turned its attention over to Ash who was smirking straight towards it with his handgun pointing at the barrel. In one quick swift motion the boy pulled the trigger.

***BANG***

***BOOM***

Ash turned his head to avoid the light from the explosion and looked up once it faded. The Nemesis had definitely felt that blow, staggering as it recovered its bearings. Nemesis immediately began stomping its way towards Ash, completely forgetting to use the Gatling gun in its primitive rage. Ash ran towards the alley where Harley and Tweed had relocated to fire on the Nemesis. He spun on his feet and aimed at the other barrels he'd positioned near the pumps, waiting until Nemesis was only a few feet away from them before making his move.

Ash had time to fire twice at his targets before the nearby members of Echo Six yanked him behind another dumpster and covered his body while yelling for him to watch his head.

The explosion that followed nearly deafened Ash as both the barrels and the gas pumps connected to the underground fuel tanks exploded.

…

Meanwhile, in another part of Raccoon City a familiar grunt with the gas mask that had the red lenses was contacting someone in an alley with a communicator that was built into his helmet. "Camille… to Delta team, do you… read?" He repeated the same sentence several times until he finally received a response from the other side.

"_This is Delta team! What is it?" _a female voice answered in a dark tone.

"…I have encountered… the boy you reported before…" There was a pregnant pause on the other side. "He's… with a group of government soldiers. They… are engaging… with the Nemesis program as I speak." the grunt informed. There was still no response. "What should we-"

Suddenly, Camille cut himself off when he heard several moans and grunts behind him. He immediately turned around where he see several undead approaching him with hungry expressions on their faces. The man quickly pulled out his handgun and started to shoot at the approaching threats. One by one, they went down hard without much of a fight. Unfortunately for the grunt, an infected Spec Ops soldier was approaching behind him. Once Camille was able to turn around, it was far too late for him to do anything. The infected Spec Op took a bite out of his neck.

"Grrkk!" the grunt let out a gurgle through a passageway no longer capable of a scream.

"_Soldier!" _the same female voice from the poor man's helmet shouted.

Camille couldn't answer her. He was too busy getting his vocal cords chewed on.

"_Soldier! What the hell is going on over there! Answer me! Soldier!" _

All she got was nothing but static before the connection went dead.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This could be one of my longest chapters I've ever wrote for this story. As of now, I will continue to do more in the long run. For now, just enjoy this chapter. I hope you guys like the Nemesis scenes, mini fights, and other whatnots. It took a lot of effort to add them into this chapter. So be happy. Also, if you were wondering why Nemesis didn't attack Ash and Pikachu from start to finish, there's a reason. Ash and Pikachu are not and I repeat ARE NOT part of Nemesis' list of targets, for now that is. That is why Nemesis didn't attack them. I hope that answers your question. Anyway, I hope you guys R & R! Until next time, peace out!**

**P.S. - Give the proofreading and editing credit to my beta-reader, **_Vandenbz_**.**

**Aoi Hyoudou **(formerly known as Johan07)


	7. Chapter Seven

**Aoi Hyoudou: **I took notice from the last chapter that several of you guys were hoping that Party Girl would be one to be with Ash, despite an age difference between the two. As much as I wanted to, I can't. The decision is final. Claire is going to be the one. Sorry. Maybe one day I could do a short one-shot between Ash and Party Girl. Would you guys like that? I will have to see since my beta reader who is helping me out on this story wants to do a sequel or something similar to this story once it is over. So… you guys will have to wait until I have no projects in the works.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from Pokémon or Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

**Rated: **T

**Word Count: **8.442

**Pairing (s): **Ash/Sienna "Party Girl" Fowler (platonic) - Ash/Claire Redfield (platonic)

**Summary: **With Mistralton City and Ash's sixth gym battle just days away, Ash and his friends decided to take a short break from their long journey. But soon trouble begins to surface as Team Rocket appears and spoils the group's relaxation. During the heated confrontation, something unexpected happens, sending Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket into a whole new adventure, with danger lurking in every corner. Learning that he was no longer in Unova and now in a city where it's being overrun by flesh-eating zombies, Ash must find a way to get back home while dealing with problems, like Team Rocket, the undead, Lickers, Hunters, Mr. X, Nemesis, and two groups (U.S.S. and U.S. Spec Ops) who are interested in his unique ability, aura.

* * *

><p><strong>Trouble Never Ends<strong>

…

It was gone. The gas station that once stood before Ash and company was gone. It was now a pile of rubble, a shadow of its former self with small explosions still going off every now and then within the wreckage. Various small fires were still burning around the area with bits of debris scattered all over the place. It was a total mess.

As Ash stood up from behind the dumpster he dimly realized that his ears were still ringing from the explosion. A quick cursory check also revealed that Pikachu was stirring in his backpack. He joined Harley and Tweed in walking over to the former gas station to study the damage that was inflicted by the immense blast from earlier. The young trainer was quite surprised at the result. He didn't expect the explosion would be this powerful, but in the end it had worked in their favor.

"Not bad, kid." Ash turned his attention to the redheaded demolition expert who was smirking at him. She was quite impressed at his handiwork. "That was one big blast. Did you plan for that all along?"

Sheepishly, the young teenager scratched the back of his head with a hand and said. "Oh… uh, not really…" He started which baffled the two Echo Six members. "I didn't expect the explosion to be that powerful." He admitted. But down the line, he knew that if it wasn't for the fuel pumps and the underground fuel tanks that he hadn't acknowledged at the time, his reckless maneuver wouldn't have worked. In any case, Harley and Tweed accepted his answer without question.

"Well, it did the trick nonetheless." the former biker said as he scanned around the area where his eyes fell on a certain B.O.W. that was lying motionless on the pavement several feet away from them. "And it sure as hell took care of our little friend over there." He motioned his two comrades to look over where Nemesis was at.

The previously thought to be unstoppable B.O.W. was out of commission. A thick cloud of smoke was steaming out from its toasted body. Various small fires were still burning on parts of its bulletproof overcoat. It didn't seem like Nemesis was getting up to its feet anytime soon, Ash definitely felt that this was a good thing.

"Hey guys!"

Suddenly, Ash and his group took notice that the rest of Echo Six was running towards their location. Once the party regrouped and made sure everyone was in one piece, a new problem occurred. And it involved a certain raven-haired boy.

"Ash…!" Party Girl glared at the young lad before her in a stern manner with her arms crossed. Ash gulped a little. It sounds like she was a bit annoyed with him. Not by the fact that he kept running off without saying anything to her or the group, but the fact that he always did reckless things without thinking about his own life first. _That _definitely frustrated her. "You're in deep trouble, sugar."

"I, uh…" Ash struggled to find the right words as everyone was staring at him. "I can explain."

"Can you?" the blonde sniper expert questioned him.

"Of course!"

There was a brief pause.

"Um…"

"You can't, can you?" Party Girl quickly cut the raven-haired trainer off with a deep frown tugging at the corners of her lips.

"I can!" the Kanto native argued. "It's just-"

"Alright, I think I've heard enough." Dee-Ay abruptly stepped in and intervened. "Ash," The group's leader turned his attention to the young male. "Party Girl is right." He told him in a strict tone. "Your reckless actions could've gotten yourself killed!" He scolded like an older brother would to his younger sibling. "What would've happened if Nemesis shot you? What then, Ash?" Dee-Ay asked his younger comrade. "Would you have able to pull off your crazy plan then? Think about it." He instructed the young teenager to take the time to think over about his reckless actions which he did.

Ash took this moment to ponder over all the things that Dee-Ay just said to him. The leader of Echo Six did bring up some good points about him. Not once in his past journeys or now did the Kanto native ever think about his own life first, only the lives of others which often times frustrated those around him. And this time around was no different. His rash decisions and reckless behavior almost cost not only his life, but also the members of Echo Six. Realizing that he had almost made a huge mistake, Ash lowered his head and stared at his feet.

Seeing that the young teenager was taking the hint and taking full responsibility for his earlier actions, Dee-Ay decided to give him a break this time. As much as it was reckless, the man had to give the Pokémon trainer some credit. If it wasn't for his suicidal plan to stop Nemesis, everyone would've been killed. Every member of Echo Six knew this and for that they were grateful.

"But then again," The assault expert started, causing Ash to look up and stare at him. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but your recklessness and your crazy plan actually saved our asses from that thing and for that we owe you one."

Ash merely blinked. Did he just hear that correctly?

"But that doesn't mean you're off the hook, kid." Willow suddenly butted in, causing the young male to turn his attention to her. "Not by a long shot." She finished.

The Kanto native blinked again.

"As you may or may not know this by now, Ash," Dee-Ay spoke up once again, drawing the Pokémon trainer's attention right back to him. "As a unit, Echo Six sticks together as a team no matter what." He clarified. "That's the only way we're going to get outta here alive."

"And since you're with us, kid," Harley suddenly stepped in and joined in on the conversation. "That makes you part of the team as well." The former biker explained with a smile.

"Really?"

"But of course, love," Tweed answered the boy's question with a smirk. "What else would you and your little friend be to us?"

Ash didn't know what to say to that.

"As much as we can't ask you to stop being so reckless knowing full well that you won't listen," The Kanto native turned his attention to Party Girl who was sighing a little before focusing her full attention on him. "Just promise us that you will be a little bit more careful from now on and will work with us as a team, alright?" she asked the young lad.

Ash thought about it for a brief second until he noticed that the blonde sniper expert was giving him the evil eye look. He immediately flinched. Girls got scary when they were angry like that.

"Alright…?" Party Girl repeated herself in a much darker tone.

"Uh, uh, sure…! I promise!" Ash assured the blonde woman with a nervous smile, which made Party Girl happy to hear that while the rest of Echo Six and a now conscious Pikachu smirked at him.

Once everyone was on the same page, they redirected their focus right back to their previous objective which was to head over to City Hall.

As the party was heading out and leaving the area, they were completely unaware that the fingers on one of Nemesis' hands was moving back and forth, indicating that the B.O.W. was slowly regaining consciousness.

…

After a little while of retracing their steps, Ash and Echo Six were once again en route to their destination. Along the way, the party ran into several groups of infected, but they quickly made short work of them with little effort. As the group pressed forward, they came across another predicament.

Just up ahead, there was another survivor and he was geared up in a similar fashion like Echo Six, but in a different style. He was slender yet Ash noticed a fair amount of muscle on his frame. On the back of his uniform there was an unfamiliar logo, indicating that the man was from a different group than the Spec Ops or the U.S.S. Something about it still nagged at him though he put it aside for the time being due to the gravity of the situation. By the looks of it, the mysterious man was having a difficult time keeping a group of infected off of him with just his handgun which had to be getting low on ammo after that many shots. The man needed some serious help and fast. The band of horrors was still closing in on him from all sides despite his best efforts.

"He's a survivor! Let's move in and help him out team!" Dee-Ay ordered with authority in his voice.

With no time to waste, the party opened fire on the infected. Once the last body hit the ground and no longer posed a threat, the startled survivor who they rescued turned to them with a sigh of relief. He was thankful they had come to his aid, thinking that he was a goner when he saw the slide on his pistol lock back and heard the click of an empty clip. "Thanks for saving my ass." He gave his thanks to the group as he reloaded his gun.

Ash heaved a deep sigh of relief. He was glad that the man was alright. The young trainer would hate it if he got hurt. Ash didn't want to see anyone get hurt or killed for that matter. Thankfully, nothing like that happened during the crazy scuffle. Seeing that everyone including the male Raccoon City survivor was still in one piece, the Kanto native relaxed a little until he took notice that the man was staring at him as if he had something on his face. Echo Six also took notice of the man's staring as well. "Uh… can I help you?" the raven-haired teenager asked the older male.

"You sure can, kid, what is _that _in your backpack?" The brown-haired man pointed his finger in a half-surprised, half-awed matter.

Immediately, Ash looked over his shoulder to see what the man was pointing at. It didn't take the young boy that long to figure out that the man was pointing at the two long yellow ears that were poking out from his backpack.

Great. Just great.

How would this go down? Sure, Echo Six believed Ash's story after what everything thus far. But could this man do the same? Or would he just be a non-believer?

Seeing that the young trainer was in dire need of a little assistance, the Spec Ops decided to step in and help him out with his tight situation. "Now's not the time for that," Dee-Ay started, drawing the male survivor's attention away from the young lad who was sighing in relief that his new friends were able to help him out. "There are a few questions we would like to ask you if you don't mind." Dee-Ay motioned the rest of Echo Six to do their thing which they did after taking the hint.

"Come on, kid," Harley moved to Ash's side and seized his shoulder with a hand. "Let's patch up that cheek of yours over there." The medic motioned his head over to the side. "We can't have it get infected now." Given the situations that the team had been in thus far he wanted to treat the boy's minor injury from the earlier intense battle with the U.S.S. and Nemesis as soon as possible.

"But…" The Kanto native wanted to hear the questions that Dee-Ay was asking the man about.

Soon Party Girl walked over and placed a firm grip on the boy's other shoulder and said. "Now, sugar, what did we just talk about earlier?" The blonde woman gave her young friend some time to ponder over his thoughts which was a smart thing to do.

"Oh yeah…" The young lad finally remembered what he promised. He promised that he would listen more and cooperate with Echo Six as a team player. "I kinda forgot…" Party Girl sighed.

"You know Ash, your health comes first." Harley spoke up. Ash slowly nodded in agreement. But in reality, that was half true. The real reason that the Spec Ops didn't want him to take part in the conversation with the man was because it wasn't the right time for Ash to learn about their real objective. Sure, it wasn't fair to keep the young teenager in the dark about their true intentions, but somehow it would work out in the end. They just needed some time.

"So come on," The two Echo Six members ushered the raven-haired trainer away from the rest of the pack. Ash gave one last look to Dee-Ay and the others before moving a short distance away.

Once Ash got his cut looked at and cleaned up by Harley while Dee-Ay and the rest of Echo Six were getting all the necessary information from the survivor, something unexpected happened yet again.

Out of nowhere, a barrage of bullets flew by and connected against a car that was close to Dee-Ay and the others. The shots completely caught everyone off guard as they took cover. They didn't know who was shooting at them, but once they peeked over from their positions they quickly noticed that it was another squadron of Umbrella grunts who were out looking for blood.

As Ash and Echo Six were exchanging fire with the U.S.S., the Kanto native quickly took notice that Dee-Ay was saying something to the brown-haired man before he quickly sprinted off into an alley. Ash didn't know what was that all about, but it was depressing that he didn't get the chance to find out who was that man was. What a shame, but there was no time to dwell on the 'what ifs'. The young trainer had more important matters to deal with right now.

It was an intense standoff. Bullets were flying everywhere. Neither side was backing down. During the intense shootout, there were a few occasions where things got a little bit too close for comfort for either side. Shona and Tweed almost got shot, but in the end Ash's group prevailed over the U.S.S. With no more enemies in sight, Ash and Echo Six could finally move forward without further delays though the group did scavenge ammunition from their fallen enemies. Ash didn't particularly like it but he knew that every bullet counted in an environment like this.

It didn't take the party that long to locate City Hall. The massive structure was just a few blocks away from their previous location. Once the group reached the building, they took a brief moment to catch their breaths. City Hall was quite a sight. It stood out from the rest of the nearby structures; it was so enormous you'd have to be blind not to notice it.

All in all, City Hall was kinda creepy in the evening atmosphere. Ash was getting a bad feeling about this. His aura senses were detecting a mass of eerie vibes within the building.

"So… why are we here again?" the Pokémon trainer asked no one in particular amongst the group.

Dee-Ay turned his head and faced his young comrade. He could tell that Ash was a little anxious by his body language. It was okay to feel that way. In fact, all of them were feeling that way, so he wasn't alone. "Ash, if you've already forgotten, Squadron C told us that we should head over to City Hall. There's a good possible chance that we might run into your friends as well as locate information that we might need along the way." the assault expert explained, trying to refresh the Kanto native's memories.

"Oh… yeah…" Ash somewhat remembered.

With no more questions that needed to be answered, the party proceeded forward after making sure everyone was prepared and ready for any surprises. Like all experienced leaders, Dee-Ay sprinted up the steps and over to the front entrance first. Once he motioned forward with his hand, the group's two most reliable members, Willow and Harley ran over and joined his side. Soon afterwards, everyone else rushed over to join them.

Pressing his ear against the door, Dee-Ay couldn't hear anything from the other side. It was awfully quiet. He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But there was no time to second guess the situation. Quickly, the assault expert turned his head and faced Willow who was across from him. He gave her a nod which she quickly noticed and nodded right back at him.

Wasting no time at all, the female recon expert kicked the doors open with her right foot. In no time, she rushed inside with her weapon ready in hand, followed by Harley, then Dee-Ay, and soon afterwards everyone else.

…

Inside, the party found themselves in the main lobby of the building. With caution, they scanned around the whole area to make sure they weren't walking into an ambush. Pikachu poked his head out from his trainer's backpack to lend the group a helping hand with his ears. The yellow mouse tried to see if he could detect any sound or movement around the area but found nothing. He couldn't hear anything either. The lobby was completely dead, broken desks and debris scattered around the floor. It looks like the group was in the clear, for now.

"All clear." Willow spoke up as she lowered her gun to her side and so did everyone else afterwards. But as much as she said it was clear, something still didn't feel right to her and she knew it. And so did everyone else who was getting the same feeling as her.

"So, what now?" Party Girl asked while carefully looking around her surroundings. Her question was directed more towards the team's leader than anyone else within the group.

"Well…" Dee-Ay started, gaining everyone's attention which he took notice. "Our best bet is to head over to the Records Room."

Ash blinked a little.

"Uh, why there?" The raven-haired trainer didn't quite understand the older male's answer which was no surprise and he wasn't alone. Pikachu was also quite lost. Why did they have to head towards an area part of City Hall called the Records Room? Why there, why not somewhere else?

As much as Echo Six knew the whole reason why they have to head over to the Records Room, they just couldn't leave the young teenager and his little friend hanging. The Spec Ops needed to give them some kind of reason to go there or otherwise they'd be distracted by the lack of both trust and information. And that's when Tweed decided to step up to the plate and offered the young lad an answer. "Why not, love?" Ash cranked his head over to the redheaded demolition expert with curious eyes. "For all we know your friends could be in the Records Room or close by it, that is. That area would be farther away from the entrance, making it less likely they'd be attacked by anything running around." she answered while ignoring the disapproving looks from her teammates, seeing that she was doing more harm than good by giving Ash false hopes about his friends' whereabouts.

"Hmm…" The oblivious teenager took a brief moment to ponder over everything he just heard from Tweed who was receiving glares all around from her teammates.

The possibility of his friends hiding inside the Records Room never once crossed Ash's mind until now. Maybe Tweed was onto something. Maybe they should head over to the Evidence Room or whatever they called it, there was a good chance they might find Iris and Cilan there. If so, then what were they waiting for? They should hurry up and head out before they missed this opportunity!

Just as the young trainer was about to say something to Echo Six, his aura senses suddenly detected a presence that was giving off a weak aura flow. It was definitely close to them. Ash didn't know what his aura senses were picking up, but it was certainly something he shouldn't completely ignore without checking it out.

Wasting no time at all, the Kanto native walked right past all the members of Echo Six and began his search. The Spec Ops and Pikachu who was staring at his trainer within the backpack were a bit baffled by his strange behavior.

"Ash…?" Party Girl called out to the young lad, only to receive no answer from him which made the group a bit concerned as to what he was looking for.

Instead of standing around and pondering over the thought, Echo Six walked over to the raven-haired teenager's side to see what he was looking for. This eventually led the group to stop in front of a staircase where they spotted something round and mechanical on the side near the bottom steps. Right away, all the members of Echo Six recognized what it was by its shape, form and the red laser beam that was beaming out from its center towards the other end of the steps. Ash and Pikachu thought it looked familiar from their experiences battling organizations like Team Rocket back in Kanto.

"Is this, um," The Kanto native didn't want to sound dumb, but he was going to ask this anyway. "…some kind of trip mine or something?"

"You hit the nail right on the head, kid." Tweed grinned at the young lad. She was quite impressed with him for knowing something like this.

"This is most likely left behind for us by our _friends_." Dee-Ay butted in with a sarcastic tone of voice when he said friends, hinting that he was referring to the U.S.S. than anyone else. "Tweed, disarm it! We can't let them know we're here already." he ordered.

"On it!"

With no time to waste, the female demolition expert went to work. While Tweed was busy disarming the trip mine with her natural talents and skills, Dee-Ay turned his attention to Ash with the same expression that his comrade had moments ago. He too was quite impressed with the young trainer and his unique talent to pick things up before anyone else.

"I must say Ash," The assault expert started, causing the young male to stare at him. "If it wasn't for you, we might not have found this." He smiled. "Good work, but how did you know it was here?" Now all eyes except for Pikachu who might have a feeling as to how his trainer knew where Tweed was still busy doing her job were glued on Ash. Echo Six was more curious than ever. They wanted to know how their young friend was able to detect a trip mine. What was his secret?

"Um, lucky guess?" Ash said while scratching the back of his head with a hand, embarrassed, hoping they would buy into that lame answer for now since he still not ready to tell them about his aura abilities just yet. The mood was still not right.

"Hmm, I don't know, kid," The Kanto native started to sweat a little. "It sounds like there's more to that answer that you're letting on." Harley didn't know why, but he had a strong feeling that Ash wasn't being truthful with them.

The raven-haired trainer started to panic a little. "No, no, really, it was just a lucky guess. Pikachu and I ran into things like this back home, they would be used to spring harmless traps from time to time!" He tried to convince the former biker and the rest of the group, but failed miserably.

Echo Six continued to stare at their young comrade in suspicion. It was just like the other times when they asked him. He still refused to give them a straight answer. What was he hiding that he didn't want them to know about just yet? Was it something bad?

Instead of pressing on, the Spec Ops decided to give the Kanto native some space and some more time to deal with his personal feelings. They hoped by doing this that maybe Ash might come clean later on and tell them what was on his mind about his little secret. Forcing the answer from him wouldn't do them any good. They decided to be a little bit more patient with him a little longer. The wait would be worth it when the time came. Until then, Echo Six would just have to accept his second lie and drop the subject for now.

"Alright. I'm all done!" Everyone suddenly turned their attention right back to Tweed who was wiping sweat off of her forehead with her forearm. Her work was done. The trip mine no longer posed a threat to the group. It was deactivated so there was no way for it to alert the U.S.S. about their whereabouts too. The staircase was now clear and safe to use if the party wants to take that route. But in this case, they weren't going to take the chance just yet. They knew the U.S.S. was still lurking around somewhere waiting for them. For now, the party decided to look for the Records Room in another direction without getting detected by Umbrella. But what other route could they take? Most of the doors had been found to be locked and secured during their initial sweep of the lobby. Randomly breaking down doors might alert their enemies without the aid of the mine.

"Hey!" Soon the group turned their undivided attention over to the direction where they heard Willow, who somehow moved away from the party without anyone noticing and called out to them. "You guys might want to check this out." She motioned her head to her left at something.

Ash and the rest of Echo Six didn't know what she found, but it looked like it was really important if she wanted them to come over to check out what she'd noticed. Curious as they are, the group walked over to the recon expert's side where they spotted a small hallway towards her left with a double door. Said door was wide open, a fact which was clearly suspicious. It felt like a trap.

After a little while of debating whether or not the party should take the bait and head inside, the group finally came to an agreement. As much as it sounded risky that they were taking the chance to go through with their decision, they were painfully aware of the possible consequences behind their decision. As a precaution they filed through the doorway is a staggered line with Dee-Ay in the lead, everyone else diligently scanning their surroundings for potential threats.

Once everybody went through, Ash and Echo Six immediately took notice that they were now inside some kind of area under construction. Ceiling and portable lights were scattered throughout the room. Also in the area were wooden crates, piles of two-by-fours, a couple of ladders, fuel tanks, metal pipe stands, and a few other odds and ends. Dee-Ay noted that there were pieces of broken glass strewn across the floor, whispering the news of the environmental hazard along the line as they advanced. He refrained from hand signals since he knew Ash wouldn't recognize their meaning anyway. Across the area on the other side was another door which seemed to be shut, the team hoping that it wasn't locked.

The atmosphere was completely eerie and quiet. The party didn't know why, but they were getting a bad vibe from it. The area was just too quiet for their liking. Even Pikachu felt like something wasn't right here. As much as his ears weren't much of a help since they couldn't pick anything major within the area, the yellow mouse still felt like they shouldn't drop their guard. He had a strong feeling that something was still lurking around in the area and it wasn't alone.

As much as the area was a bit spooky and dead, that did not stop Ash from trying to call out his friends' names. There was a strong possibility that Iris and Cilan were hiding in the area and they were afraid to show themselves. If they heard his voice, then maybe they might respond and come out of hiding. It was worth a shot.

"Ir-Uffmph!" But before the raven-haired trainer could even called out his friends' names, a hand suddenly clamped over his mouth, preventing him from making the biggest mistake of his life. Turning his head to the side, Ash found Willow who surprisingly was at his side. Privately he wondered if she somehow knew Teleport. So she was the one who abruptly covered his mouth, but why? Even her teammates were a little baffled by her strange behavior.

Ash stared at Willow and she stared back. Their little staring contest only lasted for a few seconds until the recon expert pressed a finger against her lips in a shushing matter.

Ash blinked and so did everyone else. What was it that she wanted them to be quiet about?

Noticing the looks from her group, Willow quickly removed her hand from Ash's mouth. Once she did that, she pointed her finger upward a few times at the ceiling. Was there something on the ceiling that she wanted the others to see? If so, what was it?

Looking up, Ash and the rest of the group got their answer and it was something they weren't expecting to find. On the ceiling was a group of _those _tongue-lashing creatures that Ash and Pikachu previously encountered before at the parking garage. There were at least five of them in all and they looked very hungry as they were moving around in a predatory manner.

This was bad, though Ash noticed it wasn't as bad as it appeared. For some strange reason, it didn't seem like the blind creatures had pinpointed the party's whereabouts just yet which was a good thing and hopefully it would stay that way. Sure, the pesky monsters immediately reacted when Harley cursed out a word, but with quick thinking Willow was able to shut his mouth just in time before he could say anything else to attract their full attention. The silent tension in the air was incredible, but once everybody stood still and remained silent the mutated infected went back to their own business for the time being.

The party heaved a quiet sigh of relief. That was one close call. If they wanted to leave the area in one piece and save some bullets for later on, they needed to act a little bit more careful from here on out. It would be easy for Ash and Echo Six to head out the same way they came in. Much to their frustration, the doors behind them had slid shut and locked upon closing. It must've happened when they had gone inside and got distracted by those _things_. The question on everyone's minds could be summed up as: 'Why didn't we check to make sure that the lock on the other side had been disengaged? Now they had no choice but to make their way across to the other side. Sure, it might sound difficult due to the fact that they had to keep a low profile so they won't attract the mutated creatures, but they'd think of a way. There was always a way.

In order for the party to advance forward to the other side without being detected, they would have to use stealth. Walking normally on the wooden floor would simply be a bad decision on Ash and Echo Six's part. There was a possibility that the floor was squeaky. Even worse was the possibility of stepping on the broken glass. The crunching noise might alert the enemy, not to mention the sounds of pain if the glass penetrated Ash's shoes or the boots of Echo Six.

Dee-Ay quickly held a quiet discussion with Willow and motioned for her to take the lead. He whispered to the rest of the group to follow her path as closely as possible. Slowly, each member of the group except for Pikachu of course took a step forward, one step at a time towards their destination while from time to time looking up at the ceiling to make sure the blind creatures didn't pick up their presence. So far, so good. It didn't seem like the mutated infected were paying any attention to them. The party's little strategy was actually working; they had gotten halfway across the room. Just a little bit more and the group would be home free.

"Alright, everyone, we're almost there." Dee-Ay whispered to his team as they were making good progress towards the door.

"And remember one thing," Willow started. "Don't step on anything that might attract those things' a-" But before she could even finish what she was going to say, a loud crack immediately cut her off, causing her to freeze in her tracks. She was getting a really bad feeling that one of her comrades did something to make that noise. She wondered which party member was responsible and if the pack of infected heard it. Only one way to find out.

Slowly, Willow looked over her shoulder where she took notice that the rest of her team were all staring at Ash who was frozen stiff with a nervous grin on his face. So he was the one. And judging by the small pieces of glass that were lying next his foot, it proves that he was the culprit behind that noise she heard moments ago. But in reality, it wasn't really Ash's fault. Truth be told, he hadn't seen the broken glass that was in his way when he was moving along. He had been too busy keeping his eyes glued on the ceiling to see it. So the group couldn't blame him too much for his mistake. Even so, it was too late to do anything about it now. The loud cracking sound had already caught the mutated pack's undivided attention, causing them to tilt their heads down and screech venomously at the party.

"Shit! Run!" Dee-Ay barked.

Ash and the rest of Echo Six didn't have to listen twice. The party quickly ran towards the exit, now ignoring the crunching glass. Dee-Ay could only hope that the door in front of them was unlocked. The time spent breaking it down would definitely give those creatures more opportunities to kill his squad. He reached the door first and flung the door open. Spinning on his heel, he shouldered his assault rifle and opened fire on the nearest abomination he could see. Dee-Ay knew that the absence of cover fire would give the boldest enemies a chance to wound if not kill his squad, something that as a good leader he could not allow.

"Go! I'll cover you!" Dee-Ay told the approaching group with a loud shout as he fired precise bursts from his weapon.

Taking the hint, Ash and the other members of Echo Six quickly went through the exit. As soon as Tweed passed him, it was his turn to take his leave. He could only pray that someone was ready to block the entrance or the things would chase them throughout the building.

The moment as the assault rifle ran dry, Dee-Ay made a break for it. As soon as he ran through the exit, Ash slammed the door shut and locked it. And just in time, Ash could see one of the creatures lashing out with its tongue but ended up slamming it against the door instead with a dull thud.

Now that Ash and Echo Six were out of danger for the time being, the party decided to take a small break to catch their breaths after putting a bit of distance between themselves and that deathtrap. They followed the curving hallway until they passed through another doorway. Hearing the cursing of his teammates, Ash looked at his surroundings where he noticed something that was a little bit strange. The young trainer noticed that they were right back where they started. As in, they were once again in the main lobby of City Hall. How did this happen?

Echo Six certainly found this revelation annoying. For all they knew, City Hall could be one big maze that had all hallways lead back to the main lobby. A design feature useful for making the lobby a transit hub though frustrating for newcomers trying to find a specific room without potentially running in circles. They didn't know why someone would construct a building like this and they didn't care that much because it wasn't their biggest concern. Their real concern was to figure out another course of action to find the Records Room. And the only option they had left was to take the stairs since their first route was a bust that led them nowhere. As much as the party knew that there would be enemies waiting for them, they would just have to take their chances. It was possible that the Records Room could be somewhere on the top floor of City Hall.

With no time to waste, the group headed upstairs only to run into more trouble. Several U.S.S. burst through the double doors near the top of the stairs and they immediately opened fire on Ash's group. Things really got hairy when a group of red-skinned zombies attacked Echo Six's left flank. Tweed, Dee-Ay, and Party Girl turned to deal with their newest problem while Ash and the others focused on their human enemies. Ash's group managed to deal with the Umbrella troops by ducking behind cover while the enemy was trapped in the open doorway. Ash felt a bit sick when he was forced to kill one of the U.S.S., he couldn't help but wonder why people were attacking them instead of fighting the infected. He turned to aid the other three members of their group as the last Umbrella soldier fell to the ground only to see Party Girl dispatch the last zombie with a headshot.

Now that Ash and Echo Six had cleared out the enemies in the vicinity, they could finally proceed forward with their search. After a little while of looking around, the party came across what it seems to be another large room complete with another set of double doors. They were getting a feeling that they had finally found what they were looking for. There was a good chance that it could be the Records Room. If so, then their search had finally come to a close. But in order to make sure it was indeed the Records Room, they'd have to check it out for themselves.

With their minds set, Dee-Ay gave a nod to both Willow and Tweed who quickly nodded right back to him. Once the pair moved ahead in front of the group, they quickly kicked the doors wide open before rushing inside with weapons in hand. Following right behind them were Ash and the rest of Echo Six.

As soon as everyone made it inside, the party readied their weapons and surveyed their new surroundings only to find no one or any _things_ inside the room. Ash was somewhat disappointed and relieved at this outcome. He was hoping to see Iris or Cilan, but instead he found a room devoid of life with a few desks, multiple file cabinets, and shelves stacked with documents. Papers littered the floor amongst pools of red liquid that Ash suspected to be blood.

Lowering their weapons, the party realized that they had indeed found the Records Room. Now that they had found it, it was time for them to look around which led the group to split into two teams. While Party Girl and Shona were assigned to keep the young Pokémon trainer and his mousy friend distracted, the rest of the group lead by Dee-Ay went on to search the room for something that they were ordered to look for by their superior officer.

After a few minutes of looking around, Dee-Ay and his team came across something that was lying flat on a table. At first they didn't know what it was, but it seemed important due to the Umbrella symbol on one of the corners. Once the group examined the document on the table more closely, they immediately recognized what it was. It was a blueprint, a blueprint of a very large facility that extended deep underground.

Now that Dee-Ay and Echo Six had found what they were ordered to look for, it was time for them to report in to their commander. But before they could do that, Dee-Ay had to make sure that the moment was right. Once the assault expert turned his head around and saw that Party Girl and Shona were still distracting the Kanto native with minor things, the man made his move and reported in to HQ.

"Command, I think we have found what we were looking for." Dee-Ay radioed in the group's findings with his compact earpiece in a quiet tone to make sure Ash couldn't listen in on their conversation.

"Echo Six, excellent work," a male voice responded. "It looks like you have found a previously unknown Umbrella Facility. Your mission now is to locate and infiltrate it. Command out."

"Roger!" Dee-Ay quickly got the message before ending the conversation, unaware that someone was listening in on what he just said.

"Roger? Who's Roger?"

The assault expert and his group slightly flinched before quickly turning around to see Ash blinking at them with Party Girl and Shona right behind him who were both feeling a little embarrassed that they let him escape from their grasp. Dee-Ay was going to have a little talk with them later. For now, he had to deal with a certain Pokémon trainer who was waiting for an answer from him. What could he say to him?

"There's no time for that." Ash frowned a little at the older male for dodging his question. "We've got other things to worry about right now. We need to head down to the sewers." Ash blinked.

"Why?" the young male asked, wondering why they have to head down to the sewers all of the sudden.

"Uh, well…" At this point Dee-Ay drew a blank on how to explain this to Ash without exposing his team's true objective.

"The thing is," Willow decided to step in and lend her leader a hand, causing the raven-haired trainer to move his attention away from the older male over to her. "Since your friends weren't at City Hall, that leaves us with one place left to look which is the city's underground sewers." the recon expert explained.

"So… you're thinking that Iris and Cilan might be in the sewers?" Willow nodded her head. "Hmm…"

The Kanto native pondered over that thought for a moment. As much as he wanted to accept her answer and move on, something was still bothering him, something that made him think twice about Willow's answer. Was her answer really truthful and sincere? Or was it just a terrible lie to give him more false hope about his friends? After a few more minutes of thinking it over, he decided to drop it for now. As much as it was bothering him, there was no need for him to think about it so much. When the time came they would tell him the real reason behind everything. For now, he chose to play along a little bit longer.

"Okay!" Ash smiled at the Spec Ops. "Let's go then!" Echo Six nodded.

With that, the party left the Records Room towards their newest destination.

…

Outside, Ash and Echo Six along with Pikachu started to hear a loud noise that seemed to be coming from the sky. Immediately, everyone looked up where the group saw something hovering in the air a fair distance away. Ash recognized it as a helicopter, something that had both used by the police and criminals back in Kanto. It wasn't shooting at anything so he guessed it was a rescue copter. It was hovering near a clock tower when Ash and Echo Six spotted a familiar figure standing on a nearby rooftop. They couldn't believe their eyes. It was Nemesis. It was still alive with parts of its bulletproof overcoat burnt from the previous explosion. From where they were, it looked like it was pointing something at the helicopter. It didn't look anything like the Gatling gun that Nemesis previously used against them. No. It was much worse than that. Ash had lost count of the number of times he had seen objects like that which turned out to be launchers of some kind. After everything that had happened so far he knew anything coming out of that weapon would be highly lethal.

With a single pull from the trigger, a missile burst out from Nemesis' new toy and collided with the helicopter after a brief flight through the air.

***BOOM***

The impact immediately sent the rescue copter into a crazy tailspin. While that was going on two more familiar figures, Jill Valentine and the man who Ash and Echo Six ran into before entering City Hall, were running towards the church site when the pair stopped in their tracks and took notice of the spinning helicopter above their heads. Inside, the pilot was trying desperately to maintain control, but it was no use. The helicopter had taken too much damage. It crashed into the face of the clock tower, igniting a huge explosion that killed both the pilot and the passenger inside while Nemesis was able to jump down to confront the two survivors.

A fierce battle was about to begin once more.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So sorry for the long delay. This chapter was so difficult to work with. I keep hitting roadblocks with it. But after having so much time, I was able to finish it. Sorry if this chapter is a bit bland and short from the last chapter, but I'm saving all the action for the next chapter. For now, just be happy I didn't quit on this chapter. So… please enjoy and don't forget to post a review. Until next time, peace out!**

**P.S. - Give the proofreading and editing credit to my beta-reader, **_Vandenbz_**.**

**Aoi Hyoudou **(formerly known as Johan07)


	8. Chapter Eight

**Aoi Hyoudou: **I'm guessing this is the chapter most of you were anticipating for where a certain somebodyfinally makes an appearance. Well, wait no longer. That person will show up in due time. For now, just enjoy the chapter. Oh, and one more thing. Someone else might make an appearance in this chapter. It all depends on how long this chapter will be.

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters from Pokémon or Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City.

**Rated: **T

**Word Count: **6,629

**Pairing (s): **Ash/Sienna "Party Girl" Fowler (platonic) - Ash/Claire Redfield (platonic)

**Summary: **With Mistralton City and Ash's sixth gym battle just days away, Ash and his friends decided to take a short break from their long journey. But soon trouble begins to surface as Team Rocket appears and spoils the group's relaxation. During the heated confrontation, something unexpected happens, sending Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket into a whole new adventure, with danger lurking in every corner. Learning that he was no longer in Unova and now in a city where it's being overrun by flesh-eating zombies, Ash must find a way to get back home while dealing with problems, like Team Rocket, the undead, Lickers, Hunters, Mr. X, Nemesis, and two groups (U.S.S. and U.S. Spec Ops) who are interested in his unique ability, aura.

* * *

><p><strong>No Place Like The Sewers <strong>

(Part 1)

…

"Big, tall, and ugly is after Jill and that Carlos guy." Party Girl stated as she relayed information to her team from her perch on a nearby rooftop, using the scope on her sniper rifle to monitor the developing situation as it steadily got crazier.

Harley didn't like the sound of that at all. "Damn!" the former biker cursed. "They're screwed three ways from Friday if we don't move our asses."

"Let's go then!" Ash urged the party to move forward. The young Pokémon trainer really wanted to go help the two survivors out, no way was anyone going to die if he could do something about it!

Dee-Ay thought for a moment. As much as this wasn't part of the group's agenda or main focus, the idea of a rescue was appealing to him. In fact, he agreed with everyone in the party that they should do something to lend Jill and Carlos a hand against the Nemesis. Knowing that Command wouldn't be too happy about their decision, they were going to take the chance anyway and go with it. A quick check with Command definitely confirmed it, though with a bit of persuasion from the group the rescue was approved. The sewers could wait. Their top priority now was to rescue Jill Valentine and that mercenary Carlos.

Once Party Girl made her way back to the group, everyone set their sights on their new objective; the Raccoon City Church and Clock Tower. Easier said than done. It had been quite a challenge for Ash and Echo Six to navigate their way around every dangerous corner of Raccoon City while exposing themselves to very high levels of mortal peril constantly. There were always obstacles such as zombies. The horde of horrors kept getting in the party's way. But Ash and his group were able to plow through each one with no trouble at all due to the fact that there were no red-skinned infected within the pack, especially since they'd replenished their ammunition from one of the military's outposts before setting out.

After finishing off the remaining infected, Ash and Echo Six quickly ran over to a building and cut around it, unaware that the building in question was the church itself. The path that they were taking eventually led them to the back door of the structure. To make sure it was safe to go in, Dee-Ay took the lead. He cautiously reached for the doorknob and turned it which surprisingly was not locked. Once the leader of the group pushed the door wide open with little force, he rushed inside and scanned for potential threats. As soon as he confirmed it was safe, he signaled for everyone else to get inside.

Upon entering the church, Ash and Echo Six kept their weapons ready; aware that an empty room in this city may not stay that way for long. Pikachu was also alert, ready to blast any threats with his attacks just in case. As Dee-Ay had found out, the church meeting hall was completely dead and empty. After several seconds, they eased up.

"Alright, team, let's keep moving." Dee-Ay ordered which made everyone nodded their heads.

Their team leader was right. This wasn't the time to stop and look around. If they wanted to save Jill and Carlos guy from Nemesis, they needed to keep moving forward. Ash and Echo Six found that when they listened carefully, they could hear a gentle and relaxing melody being played. It seemed to be coming from the next room. After opening the door, they discovered that the beautiful music was coming from a very classic and old piano. Party Girl mentioned to the others how it must be one of those brands with an automatic playback function installed in it. No wonder the group didn't see anyone playing it. Well, that solved one mystery.

But in any case, as much as everyone wanted to stick around in a room of comparative safety and continue to listen to the melody some more, they had a job to do. Once the party filed out of the piano room through the exit door one by one and hurried outside into the night air, they came across something that some of the members weren't expecting to see.

Nemesis… It was down. It was lying face first in the dirt in defeat, unconscious with its rocket launcher in front of it a few inches away. It didn't seem like it was going to wake up anytime soon. Ash figured that Jill and Carlos must've taken it out before the group arrived on the scene. This was good, but sadly such a victory had come with a price.

"What happened to her?" Party Girl asked Carlos who was carrying the unconscious Jill in his arms, bridal-style. She was also bleeding from a shoulder wound.

"Is she going to be alright?" Ash jumped into the conversation looking really concerned for the former S.T.A.R.S. member's wellbeing.

The U.B.C.S. mercenary stared at the party with a look of concern as well. "She's hurt, that thing managed to stab her with one of those tentacles." He said before going back to stare at his unconscious ally in his arms.

Before Ash and Echo Six could even get the opportunity to ask the man some more questions, a familiar growl suddenly caught everyone's undivided attention. Quickly turning their heads, Ash, Echo Six, and Carlos could see the abomination known as Nemesis slowly stirring, clearly preparing to get to its feet. Everyone gritted their teeth. What would it take to kill this thing?

Quickly determining that neither Carlos or Jill was capable of further combat, Dee-Ay immediately turned his attention to Carlos. The first thing that came to the recon expert's mind was to order Carlos to take Jill somewhere safe as quickly as possible. Sticking around wouldn't be a good idea in any sane person's mind. "Get out of here, we'll cover you!" he said to the mercenary.

"Thanks," Carlos really appreciated the party's help for the second time. "And good luck." the U.B.C.S. mercenary added before taking off with Jill still in his arms through the church's main gate which he kicked shut behind him after he went through, locking Ash and Echo Six outside with Nemesis.

As soon as the monstrous B.O.W. was done shaking off the cobwebs from its previous fight with Jill and Carlos, it slowly picked up its rocket launcher with one hand and heaved it over its shoulder before staring down at the group. The special program that was implanted inside Nemesis's brain was scanning and analyzing each member of Ash's group, comparing them to the B.O.W.'s list of priority targets. Everyone else that was deemed a possible threat was deemed a secondary concern. So far, all the members of Echo Six were still branded to be eliminated though they were designated as a lesser priority. But once big, tall, and ugly turned its attention onto Ash, things took an interesting turn of events. A holographic image of Ash suddenly popped into Nemesis's mind with an order from an unknown source to capture him alive.

With no choice but to follow its new orders, the big abomination readied itself for battle. It let out a familiar cry that alerted Ash and Echo Six that it was ready for a fight. "S.T.A.R.S.!"

"Take cover and open fire!" Dee-Ay ordered his team with a loud shout.

The group did not have to listen twice. Everyone immediately took cover behind the church's water fountain and the barricades before opening fire on the creature with everything they had. Considering the size of the target, very few bullets missed while the others all struck the Nemesis. Unfortunately, none of them did that much damage thanks to the creature's bulletproof overcoat. Sure, some of the bullets did pierce through it and hit Nemesis's flesh but that only angered the B.O.W. And for that, it retaliated.

The one-eyed fiend aimed its rocket launcher at Ash's group while taking all the hits from their attacks. Once it had its eye set on the party, the B.O.W. pulled the trigger. Immediately, a missile-like projectile burst out from the rocket launcher and streaked in the group's direction, specifically towards those hidden behind one of the barricades.

"Move!" Shona yelled as he saw the incoming missile.

The field scientist didn't have to tell his party twice. Ash, Tweed, and himself immediately scattered and dived out of the way indifferent directions. They all hit the dirt with Pikachu rolling out from his trainer's backpack in the process. The barricade that they had been using for cover immediately took the hit and exploded.

***BOOM* **

The collision was extremely loud, the explosion also giving the dodging humans and Pikachu and extra push. Debris fell all over the place, small pebbles and pieces of dirt raining down upon the bodies of Ash, Pikachu, and Echo Six. The group was a little disoriented after the explosion. Nemesis wasn't going to give them any time to recover though. It was ready to strike again. And this time it set its eye on Party Girl.

Once the one-eyed fiend had the blonde sniper in its sights, it pointed its rocket launcher in her direction and prepared to pull the trigger. Ash had somehow recovered from Nemesis's latest attack only moments ago and he immediately got a bad feeling that something horrible was going to happen. Quickly, the young male looked over in Nemesis's direction where his eyes widened in horror when he saw Nemesis pointing its weapon at Party Girl.

'_Oh, no!' _

And soon the inevitable happened.

The B.O.W. pulled the trigger and out came a blazing projectile. It was speeding straight towards Party Girl.

"Shit!" Dee-Ay and the rest of Echo Six could only watch in horror, their gunfire proving useless in diverting Nemesis' attention helplessly as the missile closed in their teammate. "Party Girl, move!" the leader of the Spec Ops yelled.

The blonde woman would have moved, but her body would not listen to her. She was frozen stiff. She didn't know if she even had enough time to dodge the attack. Just when it looked like it was all over for her, something unexpected happened.

A young figure without warning tackled her out of the way. And that young figure happens to be… Ash! Thanks to his selflessness and the fact that Ash had already been moving before Nemesis had fired, the raven-haired Pokémon trainer had been able to save Party Girl's life just in the nick of time as the speeding missile missed the pair by mere inches and impacted a tree, igniting a loud explosion. It was fortunate that the explosion from the earlier blast had actually pushed Ash closer to her.

***BOOM* **

The tree was no more than a flaming stump now. Everything else had been blown into fragments. Better it than Ash and Party Girl though. And speaking of the pair, they were fine, a little shaken up but fine which was something Dee-Ay and the rest of Echo Six was relieved to see. Even Pikachu was glad that his trainer and the blonde woman were alright. But this wasn't the time to relax just yet. Nemesis was on the move again.

While the others were busy dealing with the one-eyed B.O.W. and distracting it from their shaken comrades, Ash checked to see if Party Girl was okay. "Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" he asked the blonde woman in a concerned tone.

"Oh, um, yeah… I-I'm fine. It's just-" Party Girl couldn't finish her sentence due to the fact that she was blushing like crazy. Not because of the young teen who was on top of her after he tackled her out of the way from danger. No. It was something else, something that was more embarrassing than that.

Ash merely blinked at the older woman and her strange behavior. Why was her face so red?

Just then, the raven-haired Pokémon trainer started to feel _something_ soft, round, and squishy underneath him. He didn't know what it was but it seemed like one of his hands was grasping it. Curious as he was, Ash slowly looked down and takes notice that his hand was on Party Girl's chest. But that wasn't the worst of it. No. The worst part was that his hand was clutching onto her, her, her… breast and squeezing it!

"Waahhh!" Realizing what he was doing, Ash quickly got off of Party Girl and backed away from her. "I-I'm sorry! I-I d-didn't mean to do that! I-It was, it was, a-an-" He just couldn't finish his sentence. He was too embarrassed. His face was very red from the whole ordeal.

("Ash!") In no time, the pair turned their attention away from one another and looked over to the side where they saw Pikachu running towards them. Once the yellow mouse made his way over to the pair's side, he immediately took notice of the awkward atmosphere and their flustered faces. They looked pretty embarrassed around each other. Why was that? ("Uh, are you two okay?") Pikachu looked at Ash then at Party Girl and then right back at Ash once again. ("You guys seemed a bit… flustered.")

Upon hearing that, the Pokémon trainer slowly cranked his head over to the blonde woman and looked at her who in return looked right back at him. Once their eyes met, they immediately looked away from one another with their faces turning crimson red.

Pikachu blinked and stared at the pair with a dumbfounded expression on his face. What was going on here? Why were they acting so strange towards one another? Did something happen?

***BOOM***

Immediately, Ash and Party Girl shot straight up to their feet after hearing another loud explosion. The two humans and the yellow mouse quickly turned their undivided attention right back to the fierce fight between Nemesis and the rest of their party. Things did not look like they were in Dee-Ay and his team's favor. None of their attacks were working or having much effect on Nemesis. The bulletproof overcoat proved to be quite the annoyance, the gunfire only irritating it. And for that, the angry B.O.W. unleashed hell on the Spec Ops by firing more rockets.

Seeing that things were getting worse by the second, Ash believed that the group should start thinking about changing their strategy and fast. Attacking Nemesis head-on didn't seem like the best option due to the fact that it wasn't making any progress at all.

Just then, a thought came to Ash's mind. He didn't know if it would help him and his party out but there was no time to be picky about it. Quickly, the Pokémon trainer turned his attention away from the fight over to the church's main gate which was still locked tight and stared at it for a moment. Soon realization kicked in. If going on the offensive wasn't going to bring Nemesis down to its knees, then they have to resort to one other thing - fall back and retreat!

As much as the Kanto native didn't like the idea of running away from a fight, there was no other way around it. Fighting Nemesis with their current weapons in this environment was pointless. All Dee-Ay and his team were doing was wasting their ammunition on it. Their struggle was leading them nowhere. It'd be best if they pulled out but there was a big problem; namely the locked main gate.

Usually, that issue wouldn't be _that _much of a big deal due to the fact that a certain _someone_ on the team could have easily solved the party's problem with her expertise in demolition. Unfortunately, Tweed was a little occupied at the moment, busily assisting and supporting her team against Nemesis. The redheaded woman would've been an easy target to the abomination while she was setting the charges anyway.

Seeing how that option was no longer available, Ash needed to figure out another way the group could use to take down the church's gate. The raven-haired male needed to think fast. Time was definitely not on his side.

After quickly scanning around the area back and forth for anything that he could use to break down the gate, something interesting immediately caught the Kanto native's attention. When he saw Harley and Shona both evading one of Nemesis' rocket launcher attacks which eventually led the speeding missile to fly over the church walls and destroy a nearby lamppost, something suddenly popped into his head. He did not know if this crazy idea of his would work or not but he was willing to try anything.

If he couldn't open the gate, he'd get Nemesis to do it for him! Hopefully he could taunt Nemesis into shooting at him while the gate was behind him, blowing it open in a single move. The only catch was dodging the shot successfully. Sure, the plan sounded risky and dangerous but it would get the job done. Hopefully, the Spec Ops wouldn't be too mad at him when he put his reckless plan into action.

With his mind set, the young Pokémon trainer ran off to set his wondrous plan into motion, an action which immediately caught both Party Girl and Pikachu's full attention.

("Ash!") the yellow mouse squeaked in surprise to see his boneheaded trainer dashing off towards the danger without a word.

"What are you doing!?" the blonde sniper shouted at the teen's running form. She didn't know what was going through his mind but he was being completely reckless. What was he trying to do, nearly get himself killed again? Sometimes she wondered if he needed someone to hold his hand to keep him out of trouble.

Completely ignoring all the looks and stares he was getting from Party Girl, Pikachu, and the rest of Echo Six, Ash quickly rushed over to the church's main gate. There was no turning back at this point. Once the young lad took his position and made sure he was ready for anything, he proceeded forward with step two of his master plan.

"Hey, ugly! Over here!" the Kanto native called out to the Umbrella creature with a loud shout which immediately got all of his party members' to gape in disbelief as they stared at him, except for Nemesis who didn't even bother to acknowledge him or his pathetic insult. Instead it targeted the Spec Ops yet again.

Ash gritted his teeth. He should've known something like this would happen. If a verbal insult wouldn't get its attention, then he'd just go with the next best thing - using force! With no time to waste, the young male quickly aimed and pointed his handgun directly at Nemesis' face. Seeing that the creature was paying no attention to him whatsoever, Ash had no choice but to pull the trigger.

***BANG***

The bullet ejected from the handgun on a path straight toward Nemesis' stapled eye and hit its target dead center. The impact actually staggered the Nemesis as it clapped its spare hand to the wound. It certainly got big, tall, and ugly's full attention.

Nemesis snarled in anger before quickly turning its head away from the Spec Ops over to the ignorant teenager who was now standing his ground and waiting for the next move. The monstrous ogre narrowed its gaze with its one good eye and glared down at the little worm, raising its rocket launcher and using its spare hand to steady the shot. If the B.O.W. wanted to, it could easily have put the Pokémon trainer out of his misery with one simple attack.. Unfortunately, Nemesis couldn't do that. The program system within its brain kept telling it to not kill the young teen. For that, the B.O.W. had to obey its given orders no matter how much the situation demanded it.

But fate had other ideas on its mind. Ash fired his second shot, against all odds hitting the same target though the bullet impacted the side of the stapled eye and caused it to bleed. The pain and surprise was enough to get Nemesis to unconsciously squeeze the trigger of his rocket launcher which was still aimed at Ash!

***BANG* **

In no time at all, another missile burst out from the B.O.W.'s weapon and headed for the young trainer who braced himself with forced calm as his teammates panicked, all yelling out at the same time.

"Ash, what are you doing? Move!" Dee-Ay shouted at the adolescent male who wasn't budging from his spot.

"Kid, I don't know what you're planning or thinking, but you need to move your ass and I mean, right NOW!" Harley yelled loudly.

"Ash!" Willow, Tweed, and Shona called out.

"Ash!"

("Move, you idiot!")

As soon as the Kanto native heard Party Girl and Pikachu finish speaking, he immediately dove out of the way and rolled off to the side, just in time and not a moment too soon.

***BOOM***

There went the church's main gate. Nemesis' attack did its job. It completely decimated the entrance/exit like it was nothing. Now Ash and his group could escape. Seeing that his plan _actually_ worked put a big grin on the young trainer's face. Realizing what he was up to all this time also put a great deal of ease on everyone else around him.

"Ha. So, that's what he was planning." Harley was quite impressed with the young teen's tactics, even if it was a little reckless. It still got the job done regardless. "Not bad, not bad at all."

Tweed smirked. "The kid got some smarts."

While some of the members agreed with the demolition expert, others like Willow didn't like the way the Pokémon trainer kept doing things without the group's consent. "But it was still reckless on his part." She heaved a deep sigh.

"We'll scold him later." Dee-Ay told his teammate. Soon he took notice of Nemesis and its foul mood. It tried to fire its rocket launcher at them, but it seemed to be out of rockets. The group felt relief at this fortunate turn of events, only for that relief to die in a horrible way when they saw Nemesis moving towards a crate set against the wall. No one had even noticed it in all the chaos. The blood seemed to freeze in their veins as the crate was smashed open to reveal yet ANOTHER rocket launcher! Ash couldn't help but kick himself when he saw this; he could have avoided the whole 'live bait' plan and shot either the gate or Nemesis with that weapon!

"Everyone get out of here, move it!" Dee-Ay ordered. Almost all the members of Echo Six nodded in agreement as Nemesis quickly checked his new launcher.

As Dee-Ay and his group ran through the 'once' church gate and out into the nearby yard, someone quickly yanked Ash up to his feet by his arm. The raven-haired male immediately turned his attention to the person who pulled him up and it turned out to be Party Girl. It was no surprise that she was a bit angry with him. No one could blame her. Sometimes the young teen's carelessness got out of hand and on someone's nerves. But this wasn't the time to quarrel. They needed to leave, right now!

"Come on," the blonde sniper started as she tightened her grip on the teen's arm. "There's no time to stand around like a statue. We need to leave. Let's go!" she told him in a steely tone.

Seeing that the older woman made a good valid point that they shouldn't stick around any longer due to the fact that Nemesis was glaring in their direction and leveling its rocket launcher, Ash quickly took the hint and nodded his head. He then looked down at his yellow mouse partner who was standing right next to the blonde female's leg. He made eye contact with his little buddy. The Kanto native was a little curious about something and was hoping that Pikachu would provide him the answer he was looking for.

Unfortunately, the yellow mouse did not have a single answer for him. Pikachu could only shake his head and shrug his shoulders telling his trainer that it must be a girl thing which Ash guessed too. What else could it be? Once Pikachu jumped right back into Ash's backpack, the two humans and the mouse quickly took their leave knowing that time was running short for them.

Witnessing that its targets were escaping from its grasp once again, Nemesis didn't waste any time at all stomping right after them but not before letting out its famous battle cry. "S.T.A.R.S.!"

Once Ash and Party Girl regrouped with their team, everyone ran through the park area where they came across a group of wandering infected. They didn't pose too much of a threat since there were only a few red faces among the pack. One by one, Ash and his group took down each zombie with little effort as they advanced further into the park. In no time, something abruptly caught their attention.

Up ahead and off to the side, near a small stream was some kind of gate that was leading to a tunnel of some sort. It didn't take the party that long to figure out that the tunnel led into the city's sewer. Now that they'd found one of the entrances to the sewers, the group quickly made their way over to it. It was no big surprise when they arrived that the sewer gate was bolted shut. Given their run of luck so far they had already anticipated that and left a space in front of the gate.

"Tweed, you know what to do." The redheaded demolition expert knew right away what her leader was referring to. She nodded her head. Dee-Ay glanced over his shoulder for a few seconds to see more zombies coming in their direction before turning his attention right back to his fellow Spec Op member and said. "We'll cover you."

"Alright, I'm on it." Tweed went down to business.

While the redheaded woman was busy dealing with the sewer gate by attaching a detonator to the lock, the rest of her group was busily taking out the closest infected. The task wasn't as easy as it sounded. No matter how many hostiles Ash and the Spec Ops took out, more continued to show up, drawn in by the sound and flashes of gunfire. Ammunition was also becoming a problem. And to make matters worse, a familiar figure was approaching towards their direction from one of the park's grass slopes. It was one bad thing after another.

Ash had no idea how they were going to handle Nemesis with such a low shortage of ammo while fending off the infected at the same time. Bullets wouldn't work, that much was obvious by now. What other options did they have left? They knew escaping into the sewers was out of the question since Tweed was still working on the sewer gate.

Just then, a stray thought came to Ash when he took out an infected with two shots, forcing him to eject the clip in favor of his last magazine. If bullets wouldn't get the job done against Nemesis, then they will just have to try a different type of attack. In other words, borrow some assistance from a certain little fuzz ball.

"Pikachu!" the Pokémon trainer called out to his little friend who immediately poked his head out from the backpack and stared at his trainer. "It looks like we might need your help after all." the young male said to his Pokémon. "Are you ready?"

The yellow mouse smirked at his friend's question. Did he really have to ask that? ("Of course I'm ready!") Pikachu squeaked enthusiastically. ("I'm always ready and plus I was getting tired of you guys always hogging all the fun while leaving me out of all the action. And don't worry I think most of my strength is back now.") The electric rodent added.

Ash was happy to hear that. Well, most of it anyway. With that knowledge at hand, it was the Pokémon trainer's cue to do what he was best known for. "All right, Pikachu. Electro Ball, let's go!" he ordered his little buddy who immediately nodded to him.

With no time to waste, Pikachu moved into action. He quickly leaped into the air from Ash's backpack and started to focus all of his electric energy within his tail. In no time, the buildup quickly formed a yellow sphere which was leaking out multiple bursts of static electricity. Once the sphere reached a certain size, the electric rodent then did some flashy maneuvers before hurling his attack with his tail straight towards Nemesis. And in the process, the charging sphere plowed through several hostiles who were in the way.

***BAM***

***BOOM***

Pikachu's Electro Ball was a complete success. It made full contact with the B.O.W., shocking the creature to no end. Nemesis fell to one knee while still feeling the side effects of Pikachu's attack. Its muscles twitched and jerked as it tried to stand up and kill Ash's group but it was futile.

Seeing that Pikachu's attack actually worked and slowed down Nemesis for the time being, that put a huge relief on Ash and his group. To cap it all off, Tweed yelled for them to get clear and they gladly obeyed.

_Beep… beep… beeeeep…!_

***BOOM***

At the sound of an explosion going off followed by a loud piece of metal falling to the ground, Ash and the Spec Ops immediately turned around where they quickly noticed that the sewer gate was no longer an issue. Tweed was able to blast it off with her detonator, allowing free access to the sewers now. Seeing that this was their one and only chance to head inside, the party quickly took the opportunity to do so. Once Pikachu returned to Ash's side and jumped right back inside the safety of his trainer's backpack, everyone made a quick mad dash inside the sewers after taking out a few more infected for good measure and leaving Nemesis in the dust. With a loud rumble and series of grinding noises, the mouth of the old tunnel collapsed behind them with a roar.

…

"F***! What are we going to do now?" Party Girl asked her group as she was reloading her weapon with one of her last two ammo clips.

That was a good question. After everything the group went through with the whole infected and Nemesis incident, what indeed were they going to do next? For the longest time, no one said a word. They were all lost in deep thought while glancing around their eerie, stinky, smelly, damp environment. They were lucky they were surrounded by the underground lights. Otherwise they would've been thinking in the dark. After a little while longer, someone finally broke the awkward silence amongst the party. And that person turned out to be Dee-Ay.

"It looks like we have no other option but to push forward." All eyes immediately fell on him when he said that. "We still have a mission to complete."

"Mission?" Ash blinked while Pikachu who was currently on the young teen's shoulder tilted his head to the side in confusion. "What mission?"

The assault expert mentally slapped himself. Why did he let that slip out? He should've known better not to do that when Ash didn't know about their current objective. Stupid move on his part, but thankfully his second-in-command was around to correct his big mistake.

"He didn't mean to say that, Ash." Willow abruptly interjected which causes the Pokémon trainer and the yellow mouse to turn their attention away from Dee-Ay over to her. "What Dee-Ay really meant to say was, we still have a job to do, as in looking for your friends." the recon expert clarified.

"Oh, I see…" the young teenager said slowly as he still wasn't sure if he should believe that or not, but he went with it anyway.

With nothing else to discuss, the party got themselves ready for what awaited them in the sewers. Once everyone reloaded their weapons, Ash and the Spec Ops headed off. They walked deeper into the sewers while keeping their guards up to make sure nothing popped up and attacked them unexpectedly. In no time, the group came across a new set of problems. Somehow, the infected had found their way down into the sewers which were troublesome as they were blocking the group's path. Not only that, but the horrors were accompanied by those blind mutants from before who were currently hanging on the ceiling. This was bad.

In order for Ash and Echo Six to survive down in the city sewers and not waste any more of their precious ammunition, they needed to make a quick decision as to what they were going to do and fast. The only possible thing they could think of at a time like this was to run like hell! They know it was risky and foolish to charge through the infected but Dee-Ay had something up his sleeve to support their decision.

In one quick motion, the leader of the Echo Six quickly yanked off a blue canister from his belt. Before the man removed the clip and threw the can towards the infected, he quickly turned to his team and shouted. "Close your eyes. Now!"

Most of the group members did what their leader told them to do. They immediately shielded their eyes. Ash and Pikachu on the other hand didn't have a single clue as to why they had to shield their eyes but they obeyed regardless.

Seeing that everyone did what they were told to do, Dee-Ay immediately turned his attention right back to the snarling mob and mutants. It was now or never. Once he moved the clip from his grenade and gave it a good toss towards the infected, he quickly looked away and shielded his eyes with his arm, knowing that nothing good would come out from the flash grenade once it hit the ground.

***BOOM***

Instantly, an immense field of light engulfed the whole area. Several loud groans and screeches echoed within the sewers. The flash of light lasted for a few more seconds until it started to dim out which was telling Dee-Ay and his group that they should take this opportunity now to run while they still could.

With the infected still stunned by the flash grenade, Ash and his group quickly ran by the flesh-eaters with no trouble at all. The party continued to head down the tunnel until they spotted a door on the right that appeared to lead into another area of the sewers. With no time to waste, they took a sharp right turn and followed their new path despite having no clue where it was leading them. As long as it took them away from the infected, it didn't really matter.

Just as the group continued on their way, they immediately and unexpectedly encountered a survivor who suddenly popped out up from around another corner. It was a young woman. And when she took notice of the group's sudden presence, she abruptly drew her handgun in self-defense and aimed it at her unwanted guests who immediately stopped in their tracks and raised their own weapons.

It was an intense stalemate. No one was backing down. But there was something that the Kanto native was curious about. Who was this woman and what was she doing roaming around in the sewers? And why she was pointing her gun at them? Was she an enemy, or a friend?

That was something Ash and the Spec Ops would have to find out.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So sorry for the long wait and the really short chapter. My mind wasn't into this chapter that much like the last one. That is why I'm going to take a short break from this story so I can refresh my ideas for it. And NO! I'm NOT abandoning it. I just need a small break from it, that's all. Please, understand. I will get back to it when I'm in the mood. For now, I will start working on a new story called, **_**Kingdom Hearts: The Chosen One's Fate and Destiny**_**. It's a Pokémon/Kingdom Hearts crossover story. Originally, I was planning on doing **_**Pokémon: The Final Season **_**but I decided to push that back for next year. Sorry, but you guys will just have to wait. Anyway, keep an eye out on **_**Kingdom Hearts: The Chosen One's Fate and Destiny**_**. That story will be one of the two main stories I'll be working on for the rest of 2012. With that being said, please R & R! Thank you!**

**P.S. - Give the proofreading and editing credit to my beta-reader, **_Vandenbz_**.**

**Aoi Hyoudou **(formerly known as Johan07)


	9. Update Announcement!

**Aoi Hyoudou:** Sorry guys, this is not an update. It's just a little post letting you guys know that starting in mid-June or early July I will start working on **Operation Aura**, I promise. Right now, I'm a little busy with my seasonal job. Hope you understand.


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